Greener ferries

Teso has been operating the ferry, Dokter Wagemaker on its long-standing service between Den Helder and Texel. The company, which enjoys a wide basis of support on the island, decided to trial the ferry on simple road diesel since it has a very much lower sulphur content than the high sulphur and relatively dirty MGO normally used.

However, due in part to the density difference between the two fuels, there was a performance drop off of around 7.4% associated with the road fuel – enough to cause an issue.

An enzyme treatment was evaluated as a way to rectify the situation, and test monitoring of 885 hours showed the efficiency could be completely restored. Hugo Wall, who has helped developed the fuel treatment, Soltron, explained that it also reduces exhaust gas emissions of particulate matter, smoke and greenhouse gases. Further, one beneficial side effect is that there is a related drop off of the possibility of sludging by diesel ‘bugs’ as it has a natural biocidal function.