The Fugro-led consortium MENENS (Methanol as Energy Step Towards Emission-free Dutch Shipping) has been awarded a grant from Dutch Government’s Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) for the development of methanol as a low-carbon shipping fuel

The 22 partners in the consortium represent the complete Dutch maritime sector, from equipment suppliers, designers, shipbuilders and ship owners to Geo-data and survey specialist Fugro.

Fugro’s leading role in the consortium is to safely convert the engine of the Fugro Pioneer survey vessel to run emission-free on methanol by the beginning of 2023. Fugro will also contribute to the wider development of the engine technology and energy management, ship design, safety procedures and technology validation of this emission-free fuel.

Achieving emission-free shipping is not a straight-forward matter as most vessels still run on fossil fuels. Although there are several routes to achieve CO₂ emission reductions in the maritime sector, there are only a few possible alternatives to marine diesel that can be deployed in the short to medium term. For large-scale introduction the most viable option is methanol.

Mark Heine, Fugro CEO: “This is a major and tangible achievement on Fugro’s step towards Net Zero emissions by 2035. A specific thank you for the people at the RVO and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate for making this very specific grant possible for the Dutch transport sector.”