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Meriaura EcoVoy Contract - a small step for a company but a giant leap for the shipping industry

Although shipping is considered to be very conservative, the winds of change are getting noticeable stronger and the pressure to reduce our environmental impact is increasing day by day. Meriaura has throughout its history been a forerunner when it comes to environmental issues and more sustainable shipping. The first experiment with bio oil was made on Meriaura’s tugboat ‘Aura’ as early as in 1992. Climate issues were not a common topic at that time yet.

Launching the Eco-coaster-vessels in 2016 was a logical step in Meriaura’s sustainability policy. ‘Eeva VG’ and ‘Mirva VG’ are designed to cause considerably less environmental impact than conventional dry cargo vessels. When they are operated on our “in house Eco-fuel” they present the most climate and environmentally friendly shipping method available today. Now, in 2019 we have decided to go commercial with this “product”. We named it ‘Meriaura EcoVoy Contract’. The idea is more or less the same that is used by electricity providers: the customer can choose among different origins for the electricity.

In a nutshell it means that we offer our customers an option to sign for low-emission contracts against a small premium. From our part we are committed to source and use at least such amount of EcoFuel that equals to the total consumption for such contracts. We also provide calculations on CO₂reductions achieved by choosing this contract type. Our hope is that such data can be used further in the value-chain and in the end help our customers to create added value for their business or their end-products.

Transports made under Meriaura EcoVoy contract, have 92–96% lower life cycle CO₂-emissions than with fossil fuels. That is quite a remarkable number and I can say with pride that we don’t know another shipping company that can give such a good figure. That is because we use second generation, waste-based biofuel, that our sister company, VG EcoFuel Ltd. is producing in Uusikaupunki, South West Finland. The commodities of VG Marine EcoFuel are completely derived from industrial sidestreams and recycled materials, such as already once utilized vegetable oils, all sourced in the Nordic Region. It is also ethical, because there is no competition against food production. The production is audited by DNV GL and has a sustainability system certificate. And unlike LNG, our EcoFuel has no methane emissions which have even stronger greenhouse effect than CO₂.

We announced in August the first commercial contract based on this concept with Stockholm Exergi. They are on their way towards fully CO₂neutral district heat production for Stockholmers and with this transport contract they took another tangible step closer to it. We also want to give the same opportunity for our other clients. At this stage we offer the EcoVoy contracts at favourable terms, as the small surcharge on freight is only derived from the price difference between MGO and VG Marine Eco Fuel. If you got interested, please contact the undersigned. We will be happy to help in making your business more climate friendly.

Wishing you a bright and beautiful autumn!

Beppe Rosin
Managing Director of Meriaura

p.s. Blogitekstin voi lukea suomeksi täällä

Ship recycling project in Naantali has ended

The Ship Recycling project at the Turku Repair Yard in Naantali has been completed. In the three-year project, funded by Tekes, six vessels were dismantled and recycled on an experimental basis. The background of the project is the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, which states that after 2018, EU-flagged or European-owned vessels can only be recycled on shipyards approved for that purpose. In the past, majority of the world’s fleet has ended up being scrapped in Asia under conditions that do not meet European safety and environmental standards. There is a growing need for sustainable ship recycling in Europe due to tighter requirements and a general shift in attitudes. “The ship recycling business in Finland is justified from the point of view of national economy and security of supply, as well as from the environmental point of view, because the standards are high”, says Jussi Mälkiä, Chairman of Meriaura. Meriaura was involved in the project in finding and acquiring the recyclable vessels, supervising the recycling operations, and supplying and transporting recyclable materials for reuse.
The vessels recycled within the project were between 12 and 82 meters long and were mechanically dismantled either by an excavator equipped with a cutting tool or by oxy-fuel cutting. According to Mälkiä, the development of dismantling technology should be invested in: “Last time Meriaura was involved in ship dismantling some 20 years ago, the technology was exactly the same as it is now. It is old-fashioned and should be updated.”

Read more

VG-Shipping officers meeting in Turku

VG-Shipping arranges again two officers meetings in Turku this autumn. The first set of masters and chief officers and engineers spent a day together in early October, and the second set will meet a month later. This year the agenda includes especially our recently started waste reduction project “MERI” and how we will work on it on different levels on board in cooperation with the office staff. There was also presentations and talk about the newly launched Meriaura EcoVoy Contract, future prospects, new application to be soon launched on crewing and recruiting, and other current topics. We think that these get-togethers are important for mutual feedback, discussions and new ideas. After the formal part of the day we have a nice dinner together, and as we are in Finland, sauna is a must.

Blog post: News from the waste reduction project "MERI"

In June, we announced the start of the waste reduction project ’MERI’on our fleet. It received a great deal of publicity, even in the mainstream media in Finland.It has been also noticed elsewhere in Europe: our project manager Thomas Friis was invited to the Project Cargo Summit in Rotterdam to present the project. Now the project has been running for about three months. We have not yet made miracles, but we have gathered information and ideas, trained our office staff and crew onboard, and gained a great deal of experience, for example on how leaving the ship's sewage in ports works.

The "no-special-fee" system that is in use on the Baltic Sea (as recommended by HELCOM), has been designed to encourage the use of port reception facilities. This means the waste fee paid for each port call covers reception, handling and final disposal of all ship-generated waste (oily waste, solid waste and black water) and is charged regardless of whether the ship actually leaves its waste or not. In our experience, unfortunately, many ports have refused receiving sewage. We do not want to point out anyone but have to say that even in Finland there are ports that are not capable of receiving the waste waters from ships as the law requires. For the sake of the poor condition of the Baltic Sea, this needs to be changed urgently.
Read the whole blog post

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Meriaura Group · Linnankatu 88 · Turku 20100 · Finland