By GMM News | 2024-08-19 | International Shipping News |

Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the world’s largest premium aluminium producer, has set a new world record by delivering bauxite cargo aboard a vessel powered by LNG.

The Ubuntu Empathy, a capesize ship with dual LNG fuel capabilities, is carrying the historic shipment. It marks the first bauxite shipment transported using an LNG-powered vessel.

The Ubuntu Empathy is part of Anglo-American’s fleet of ten LNG dual-fuel ships. The shipment, mined by EGA subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation, is bound for a customer in China.

According to SEA-LNG, LNG-powered ships like the Ubuntu Empathy can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 28 percent compared to regular marine bunker fuels.

The reduction is significant as the worldwide shipping industry will account for more than 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

Capesize vessels, among the largest bulk cargo carriers, can transport almost 180,000 tonnes of bauxite ore. These vessels, measuring up to 300 meters in length and 50 meters in breadth, are essential for EGA’s operations, which include delivering bauxite from Guinea to its alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi and various worldwide customers.

Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, EGA’s CEO, highlighted the importance of sustainability in aluminium production and transportation, stating that by pioneering LNG-fueled cargoes, EGA aims to reduce emissions and contribute to our goal of achieving net zero by 2050.

Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s bauxite mining subsidiary, has helped the company become one of the world’s largest merchant bauxite suppliers. GAC began production in 2019, enhancing EGA’s position in the global bauxite market.

EGA agreed to the Sea Cargo Charter in 2023, becoming the first aluminium production and Middle Eastern company to do so.

Furthermore, EGA has collaborated with “K” Line to develop innovative marine decarbonization technologies tailored to its shipping routes in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean.

Reference: Emirates Global Aluminium