Wallenius Wilhelmsen signs low sulphur fuel contracts

Wallenius Wilhelmsen has signed two key contracts for the supply of low sulphur bunker fuel – with a sulphur content of just 1.0% – that will help the company meet its ambitious environmental targets for 2005. A three-year contract has been secured with Shell Marine Products to purchase 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of bunker fuel a year with a sulphur content of just 1.0% until 31 December, 2007. The fuel will be supplied in Gothenburg and Bremerhaven.

A second contract has been signed with ExxonMobil for the supply of 100,000 to 115,000 tonnes of bunker fuel with a sulphur content of just 1.0% until 31 December, 2005. The fuel will be provided in Southampton. Last July a contract was signed with Petrobras for supplying about 150,000 tonnes of bunker fuel in Singapore with a sulphur content of 1.5%. The contract runs until 30 June 30, 2005.

At the end of last year Wallenius Wilhelmsen met its overall target of only using fuel with a maximum sulphur content of 1.5%. The company?s 2005 end of year goal is to ensure that its entire fleet of 60 plus vessels keeps to this strict low sulphur fuel target – well ahead of current legislation. International standards will require that by the middle of 2006 ships will need to meet a 1.5% sulphur standard in the Baltic. Legislation will also require that in 2007 a similar figure needs to be reached for the North Sea, Irish Sea and the English Channel while the remainder of the world will need to adhere to a 4.5% target.

Purchasing bunker fuels with low sulphur content is just one of several measures that Wallenius Wilhelmsen is undertaking to reduce its impact on the environment. The company?s owners are already altering main engine fuel combustion to minimise emissions; implementing the use of tin-free anti-foulant bottom paints on hulls; employing innovative methods of treating ballast water; using double hulled vessels; changing cooling agents used in refrigeration plants; using biodegradable oil in the stern tubes; finding more environmentally friendly systems to put out fires; and using bilge water treatments achieving content of 5 parts per million (ppm).