Carnival’s AIDA Cruises ship bunkered with marine biofuel

Photo: GoodFuels

In partnership with Carnival Corp.’s AIDA Cruises brand, GoodFuels completed its first bunkering of marine biofuel for a large passenger ship.

AIDAprima, a Hyperion-class cruise ship, was refueled with GoodFuels’ sustainable marine biofuel during a port visit to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The trial took place while the vessel was on a seven-day cruise visiting Hamburg, Germany; Southampton, U.K.; Le Havre, France; and Zeebrugge, Belgium.

GoodFuels’ next-generation sustainable marine biofuel is derived from feedstocks that are certified as 100 percent waste or residue, with no land-use issues and no competition with food production or deforestation.

It enables a well-to-exhaust CO2 reduction of 80 to 90 percent when compared to fossil fuels.

AIDAprima was bunkered with biofuel without requiring any modifications to the engine or tanks.

The successful bio-bunkering provides a blueprint for the wider cruise sector on how to accelerate the adoption of alternative fuels in large-scale passenger ships, GoodFuels stated, adding that follow-up deliveries are envisioned by AIDA Cruises—as well as potential expansion to other Carnival brands.

“This first bio-bunkering with AIDA Cruises marks an exciting step forward on the cruise industry’s decarbonization pathway, demonstrating that our sustainable biofuels are a safe, technically viable and convenient option to drastically cut down emissions from passenger vessels,” said Dirk Kronemeijer, CEO of GoodFuels. “As the effects of climate change are felt acutely in several parts of the world, the time for action is now, and biofuels are one of the few options that can already make a difference today. We are delighted to have worked alongside the trailblazers at AIDA Cruises in the past few months to make this milestone a reality, and we look forward to collaborating again in the future.”

Felix Eichhorn, president AIDA Cruises, added, “We continue to actively explore all opportunities to decarbonize our fleet while advancing efficiency in line with international carbon intensity reduction targets. With the successful start of biofuel usage, we have proven that gradual decarbonization is possible even on ships already in service. An important prerequisite for us as a cruise line to be able to use it is that it becomes widely available on an industrial scale and at marketable prices.”

GoodFuels is a Netherlands-based provider of sustainable marine fuels. The company integrates the entire supply chain for sustainable marine biofuels.

From feedstock to tank, GoodFuels says its proposition covers elements of sourcing feedstock and ensuring its sustainability, production and refining, global distribution, quality assurance and marketing programs with ports, governments and end clients.

All of GoodFuels’ operations are certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials.

GoodFuels is part of the GoodNRG Group, which is active under various labels and companies in sales, marketing, trading, R&D and production of sustainable fuels for the transport segments for which biofuels is one of the best or only viable long-term alternatives.