Dutch Boskalis chooses biofuel over LNG

Dutch dredging company Boskalis said on Tuesday it will be boosting the use of biofuels to power its fleet of vessels as the company is looking to reduce emissions.

“Various sea trials conducted by Boskalis have shown that sustainable biofuels lead to an impressive reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 90% compared to fossil fuels, and are also much more effective than alternatives such as liquefied natural gas (LNG),” the dredging company said in its statement.

Using biofuel is one aspect of the ‘Boskalis on Bio’ program, for which the company recently signed a long-term partnership with biofuel supplier GoodFuels.

The program is aimed at achieving a 35% reduction in the CO2 emitted by the Boskalis fleet and equipment in the Netherlands in the next five years, according to the statement.

Boskalis said in the statement that it would use a biofuel blend on the project to install the export cable to the Borssele offshore wind farm.

The Borssele Alpha project is being executed on behalf of TenneT and is aimed at connecting the Borssele offshore grid with the Dutch high-voltage grid.

During this project, Boskalis said it would power its vessels with a biofuel blend of up to 30 percent. As a matter of fact, the large trailing suction hopper dredger Prins der Nederlanden has already started using the fuel, it said.