Thames Freeport - Britain's Trading Future

[ 90 ] G P S M A R I N E HGVs has a significant effect on the incidence of road traffic accidents and the resulting injuries to and deaths of members of the public. Notwithstanding all of those benefits of using water freight, more can be done to make it an even more attractive option from an environmental perspective, and all types of emissions from vessels can be reduced or improved to further decrease the environmental impact of water freight. Vessels operating on the Thames under the Thames Freight Standard 2013 are obliged to retain sewage on board and dispose of it safely ashore. Similarly, oil and oily wastes must be retained and safely disposed of ashore. More recently, air pollution and exhaust emissions have come under scrutiny, largely due to the Port of London Authority’s Clean Air Strategy and Thames Green Scheme. While the purpose of the Clean Air Strategy is obvious, the Thames Green Scheme goes further and challenges operators to improve their overall environmental performance and reduce the environmental impact of their vessels and their operations in general. GPS Marine has embraced both initiatives and was the first recipient of a Silver Award under the Thames Green Scheme. That achievement was made through the company’s adoption of a variety of energy use reduction technologies and a reduction in the peripheral environmental effects of its operations. GPS Marine also donated a low emission Ford Transit Connect van to the Charity Thames 21, which seeks to generally clean up and improve the Thames environment. More recently, the company has lent its backing to the G-volution organisation, which is seeking government funding to develop fuel cell technology to provide power to vessels while on standby overnight or between periods of work. The most significant step taken by the company to improve its environmental performance, however, was to change the fuel used in its entire Thames-based fleet. Instead of burning marine gas oil DMA, which is a standard fossil fuel, GPS Marine’s vessels operating on the Thames now exclusively use Green D+, an enhanced hydrogen treated vegetable oil (HVO), which is entirely plant derived and produced from waste cooking oil. Although Green D+ is a drop-in replacement for gas oil and requires no modification to the engines or equipment used in the vessels, the challenge was to enable the product to be delivered to the Thames-based fleet where and when it was needed. To resolve this problem, a small bunker barge was purchased and refitted specifically to carry Green D+. This barge, Dispenser , is loaded at Stolthaven Dagenham and distributes HVO as and when required to the tugs of the GPS Marine Thames fleet. GPS Marine has also made this high quality alternative fuel available to any other operator on the Thames. The environmental effect of using Green D+ in place of marine gas oil is to reduce CO 2 e emissions from GPS’s Thames-based fleet by up to 90 per cent, which some studies suggest equates to a reduction of up to 2.72 kg of CO 2 e per litre of fuel used. Using Green D+ also eliminates oxides of sulphur from exhaust gasses and can reduce NOx in exhaust gasses by up to 30 per cent. Importantly, by using Green D+ instead of marine gas oil, the particulate matter content of diesel engine exhaust gasses can be reduced by up to 86 per cent. It was during discussions about how to make the greatest reduction in the environmental impact of its fleet and how to bring about the most significant improvement in air quality most quickly, that GPS Marine decided to convert the fleet to use Green D+ HVO. Making this change affected the exhaust emissions of not only the main engines, but also the auxiliary engines on every vessel in the Thames fleet and, crucially, the change could be made quickly and without the necessity of recourse to UK regulators. Dispenser bunkering GPS Vincia More can be done to make water freight an even more attractive option from an environmental perspective, and all types of emissions from vessels can be reduced or improved to further decrease the environmental impact of water freight