In Sweden, marine fuel infrastructure developer Fossil Free Marine Europe AB (Fossil Free Marine) has announced that the very first unmanned mobile marine station, developed by Fossil Free Marine and built by Swede Ship Composite in Hunnebostrand, is being established in Lidingö just outside of Stockholm, and will be operated by leading Swedish fuel retailer and distributor OKQ8 AB.
According to the company, the novel unmanned mobile marine station bridges the distribution gap, from suppliers of sustainable marine fuels to boat owners wishing to reduce their environmental impact.
For the first time, boaters can now conveniently access modern drop-in renewable fuels, that can be used in any diesel or gasoline engine, resulting in immediate and substantial reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
This is obviously a massive milestone for Fossil Free Marine, as we can now show both the fuel industry as well as the marine industry what we have been working on for many years. But for us, it’s a stepping stone, as we plan to change the way fuels are distributed in the marine sector, and take part in making boating sustainable, on a global scale, said Karl-Oskar Tjernström, Co-Founder and CEO of Fossil Free Marine.
The first unit was delivered to the site on Lidingö on July 21, 2022, for installation and commencement of operations the following week.
At Lidingö, the new unmanned marine station lies directly adjacent to OKQ8’s existing marine filling station, enabling both pleasure boats and commercial craft alike to make the needed shift to renewable fuels, with a modern turn-key solution that is both economically viable, safe, and environmentally friendly.
We’re happy to have found a partner like OKQ8, that shares our vision of what needs to be done to make pleasure boating sustainable. Our technology is truly groundbreaking, enabling the distribution of renewable fuels in large volumes, even in the most sensitive marine environments like fresh water reservoirs, Karl-Oskar Tjernström said.
The initiative is partly funded by grants from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s KlimatKlivet (Climate Step) program for “incremental costs associated with supplying renewable fuels”, and is part of a Swedish government scheme, in support of local climate investments.
In its grant award motivation, the Agency noted that the initiative is “…among those that exhibit the highest sustainable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per invested krona (SEK)”.
