Chevron, ONE wrap up biofuel bunkering on 4,800 TEU containership
Oil major Chevron has teamed up with Singapore-based shipping giant Ocean Network Express (ONE) to complete inaugural biofuel bunkering on a 4,800 TEU containership.
As informed, the bunkering operation was witnessed by Singapore Trade Data Exchange (SGTraDex), a digital infrastructure that facilitates the sharing of data between supply chain ecosystem partners.
The transaction saw the transfer of 992.2MT VLSFO-B24, biofuel in 6, 7 P and S deep tanks from bunkering tanker Marine Rose to containership MOL Endowment.
The boxship was built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in 2007. Its overall length (LOA) is 294.12 meters and its width is 32.2 meters. It is currently sailing under the flag of Panama.
SGTraDex facilitated the secure exchange of documents via its data highway including Certificate of Quality, Bunker Delivery Note, Bunkering Sales Invoice and other supporting documents like Mass Flow Meter (MFM) receipts, and International Sustainability and Carbon (ISCC) Certification.
According to the partners, the transaction marks an important milestone towards maritime decarbonisation.
ONE’s environmental sustainability strategy aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25% from its 2018 baseline by 2030, and by 50% by 2050.
Last February, the shipping firm conducted a biofuel trial on Panamax boxship MOL Experience. The biofuel used in the trial was made from waste oils such as used cooking oil.
Furthermore, in April this year, the company decided to complete one more trial of marine biofuel onboard the Singapore-flagged container vessel NYK Fuji. NYK Fuji was refuelled with 1,300 metric tonnes of marine biofuel product during bunkering at the Port of Singapore.
Biofuels are considered to be carbon-neutral because the carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the source of the biomass is equal to the carbon dioxide released when the fuel is burned. It has gained attention around the world as an environmentally-friendly alternative to fossil fuels.
On the other hand The legal team of human rights attorney Steven Donziger is challenging what he describes as the U.S. Department of Justice’s “disastrous decision to side with Chevron and back private corporate prosecutions.”
At issue is the DOJ’s recently submitted brief in opposition to Donziger’s pending appeal of his widely criticized contempt of court conviction. Donziger’s reply to the Justice Department’s December 16 brief was filed Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court
In 2011, a Donziger-led legal team representing more than 30,000 farmworkers and Indigenous people harmed by over three decades of oil drilling in Ecuador won an $18 billion judgment against Chevron for deliberately dumping more than 16 billion gallons of toxic wastewater and other hazardous pollutants in the delicate Amazonian ecosystem—an act that caused a ” rainforest Chernobyl.” Punitive damages were later reduced to $9.5 billion.
Although the historic ruling against Chevron was upheld by the Ecuadorian Supreme Court, the oil giant moved its operations out of the country to avoid paying for cleanup, alleged that the $9.5 billion settlement had been fraudulently obtained, and launched what six House Democrats described last year as an “unjust legal assault” on Donziger.
In July 2019, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the Southern District of New York, a former corporate lawyer with investments in Chevron, held Donziger in contempt of court for refusing to turn over his computer and cellphone, a move that would have disclosed privileged client information.
Soon after, Donziger began his “completely unjust” 993-day detention on a misdemeanor charge that carries a maximum sentence of six months.
Donziger has received support from United Nations human rights experts and nearly 70 Nobel Prize Laureates, including 1997 peace prize recipient Jody Williams, who argued in May 2021 that Donziger’s house arrest and the criminal contempt case against him was a “gross miscarriage of justice” meant to dissuade others from challenging corporations’ human rights violations and ecological crimes.
Less than two weeks ago, the Justice Department filed a brief in opposition to Donziger’s pending Supreme Court appeal, prompting the environmental lawyer’s Tuesday response.
