Regular bioethanol bunkering at Brazil’s Port of Santos gives shipping companies a new fuel option, after CMA CGM IRON received the first delivery in the service’s new phase on Oct. 19.
The delivery went to CMA CGM IRON, a 13,000-TEU container ship with an Everllence-B&W G95ME-C10.5-LGIM tri-fuel engine certified to operate on bioethanol. CMA CGM said the vessel had also received bioethanol at Santos on July 12, in an earlier operation.
Copersucar-associated mills produce the fuel. Evolua Etanol transports it to the port, AGEO Terminais stores it, and Bunker One handles bunkering at a Santos Brasil terminal. The Port of Santos Authority identified the Oct. 19 delivery as the first in the regular phase; the companies have not announced a timetable for subsequent operations.
Copersucar said Bunker One prepared a transfer procedure after studying the fuel and training staff, with precautions for ethanol’s low flash point. Giovani Grassi, CEO of CMA CGM Brazil, said the operation showed bioethanol could be used “safely, reliably and on a commercial scale.”
The partners present regular fueling as a link between Brazilian ethanol production and shipping demand for lower-carbon marine fuels. Copersucar describes the supply chain as established and certified, and says the project could give bioethanol producers another market.
Copersucar puts annual global marine-fuel demand above 270 billion liters. Its estimate is that replacing 10% of that use with bioethanol, adjusted for the fuels’ energy equivalence, could represent a potential market of about 50 billion liters a year. That is a global estimate, not a stated supply target for Santos.
The announcement did not give the Oct. 19 delivery’s volume or price, quantify emissions savings, or provide figures for project revenue, operating costs or a possible fuel-price premium. Copersucar says more CMA CGM vessel fuelings are planned before the end of 2026, but has not set dates or total volumes.
