BioMar Australia is excited to announce a $15 million-dollar, nation-leading project to construct the first green methanol ready vessel in Australia.
The vessel will be 81-metres long and being constructed with the future in mind through the creative design by Tasmanian company Southern Ocean Solutions. It will have the capacity to run on green methanol once it becomes available in Tasmania.
David Whyte said the government’s confidence in green hydrogen seen with the announcement of a Tasmanian Green Hydrogen hub in Bell Bay late last year was an important part of the decision to move forward with the vessel.
“Once green hydrogen becomes available, the vessel will switch to green methanol as its primary fuel, resulting in one of the most sustainable delivery vessels in the world, cutting fossil fuel use and embracing renewable energy,” Mr Whyte said.
BioMar Australia would like to congratulate staff member Mandy Gibbons for successfully naming BioMar Australia’s first vessel Ecoline. The name is part of BioMar’s heritage as Ecoline was declared the first environmentally friendly fish feed in the world and won the Danish Environmental Award in 1988.
Ecoline is set to make immediate improvements to BioMar’s logistic services, however, more importantly will support BioMar’s goal of supporting the sustainable development of aquaculture.
Capable of running on green methanol, Ecoline will become one of the most environmentally friendly feed delivery vessels in all of Australia. Furthermore, Ecoline is being designed to utilize offshore technology to support both Australia and New Zealand as they begin to expand into offshore aquaculture.
“The vessel is unique in utilizing offshore technology to deliver direct to floating feed barges as well as ports, shortening the supply chain and reducing risk for farmers developing offshore operations. Purpose-built vessels, like ours, can also deliver other farming materials which will support the industries move into offshore aquaculture,” Mr Whyte said.
Ecoline will further solidify BioMar Australia’s commitment to the New Zealand salmon industry and Australia’s mainland aquaculture industry, ensuring BioMar can reliably deliver our feed, enhance product value, and increase BioMar’s reliability, trust, and form continually expanding partnerships with farmers.
The new vessel will be docked in Devonport and is set to start running in the second half of 2024, carrying up to 3000 tons of backload containing material from New Zealand and South Australia.