Fossil Free Marine launches first ever DNV assured marine fuel station, taking safety to a new level

Render of the new DNV assured marine station by Fossil Free Marine © Fossil Free Marine

Fossil Free Marine, a Swedish company, established in 2019 by co-founders Niklas Sjöö and Karl-Oskar Tjernström, are now approaching commercialization of their new unmanned floating mobile marine fuel station.

More than 10 years' development time lie behind the unique functional design, described by the company as "a reverse engineering from a number of different regulations, most of them taken from the tightly regulated land-based fuel sector".

At an early stage in the development, Niklas teamed up with leading global certification body DNV, Det Norske Veritas, where Mikael Johansson, Head of Maritime Advisory Sweden & Denmark, performed a thorough risk assessment, to identify any and all environmental and safety risks associated with storing and distributing fuels in marine environments. That Risk assessment, combined with a number of additional requirements, such as handling more corrosive biofuels, simplicity in lean production and scalability, formed the basis for the High-Level Specification, against which a dedicated team of experienced Naval architects and engineers then developed the product with a unique composite laminate schedule.

Says Niklas Sjöö, co-founder of Fossil Free Marine: "DNV is a global certification body that not only performed the initial risk assessment, but have then supported us during the process, verifying not only design and construction, but also the manufacturing process. It's been a very time-consuming development process over many years but we know that the major international players in the fuel industry will settle for nothing but the best, and we believe that's exactly what we have developed and built at one of the foremost composite shipyards in the Nordics. To our knowledge, this is the first fuel pontoon to ever be assured by DNV.", says Niklas.

Compared to existing technology, the new marine fuel station from Fossil Free Marine offers several distinct advantages, in combination essentially setting a new world standard in safe and environmentally friendly storage and distribution of liquid fuels, including modern drop-in biofuels.

Says Karl-Oskar Tjernström, co-founder and CEO of Fossil Free Marine: "I am beyond thrilled that we have come to this point in our journey, that started about ten years ago, when my co-founder Niklas Sjöö started developing the unique functional design in composite - a completely new type of marine fuel station. During that time, the world has developed in a direction where sustainability and solutions that minimize climate impact have become increasingly important. The marine sector has meanwhile, with a few notable exceptions, almost stood still. Our breakthrough solution offers the marine sector a quantum leap into the 21st century, encompassing technology hereto only found in the latest land-based fuel distribution infrastructure. When rolled out at scale, our new marine fuel station bridges the gap between suppliers of modern renewable drop-in biofuels, and boaters wishing to dramatically reduce their climate impact. We can make boating sustainable. Right here. Right now."

Says Niklas Sjöö, co-founder of Fossil Free Marine: "Our new marine fuel station, years in the making, is designed based on a risk analysis, performed by one of the leading certification bodies DNV within shipbuilding and marine safety, identifying all potential risks and hazards associated with existing marine stations. This forms the basis for the design, where every single element is designed with a purpose - to set a new world standard in safe and environmentally friendly storage and distribution of fuel to boats. Fossil Free Marine is a member of SPT Association, that has also advised during the development process on alignment of the design to specific fuel industry regulations. By using composite technology, originally from the military naval industry, we achieve numerous advantages, such as low weight, high internal volume and compatibility with any type of liquid fuels, like renewable diesel, biogasoline or even coming e-fuels. Our first pilot will be released in co-operation with a global fuel company and will deliver convenient filling for both pleasure and light commercial vessels, through two Gilbarco SK700 connected to six separate tanks of 10 m3 each, through a TLS4B automatic tank gauge, offering full self-service 24/7 with card payment and remote operations, says Niklas.

Fossil Free Marine have filed for patent protection and have already received EU design protection for their new marine station, that contains a number of innovative features. Among them is a unique adapted pressure leakage detection system for underground double wall storages tanks in special composite material, based on technology from the German company SGB GmbH. Elaflex AB (SGB distributor for Sweden) helped Fossil Free Marine to find the best leak detector solution for their application.

Niklas Nagorny, Nordic Sales Director for Elaflex: "We are very pleased to see that Fossil Free Marine have taken advantage of our advanced leakage detection technology, and integrated this into their composite construction. Incorporating our leakage detection system into their marine station will allow Fossil Free Marine to comply with the strictest regulations for fresh water reservoirs across the European Union. In addition to this, the marine station will also feature our unique drip stop nozzles and high-quality hoses on the fuel dispensers. The drip stop nozzles will make an environmental impact by reducing the spill around a maritime fuel station. At Elaflex, we are proud to be able to contribute to a safer and more sustainable fuel distribution infrastructure and cleaner waters as supplier and partner to this exciting venture."

The first unit is in the finishing stretch of a production process that started in January 2022, at Swedeship Composite, a leading Swedish shipyard, specialized in vessels for the Swedish and Norwegian sea rescue societies and military projects. It is scheduled for installation and commercial operation in a prime location near central Stockholm late summer this year, in cooperation with a fuel industry partner. The first installation is partly funded by Swedish Government investment grants. The grant scheme, labelled KlimatKlivet ("The Climate Leap") is for "incremental costs associated with supplying renewable fuels". In their motivation, Naturvårdsverket (the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency) says that the initiative is "...among those that exhibit the highest sustainable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per invested krona (SEK)".

Although a Swedish company at heart, Fossil Free Marine are determined to make this a global venture, with plans both to sell to major fuel companies and manufacture across the world. The management team consists of a team of passionate boaters, with ample experience from senior roles in the fuel industry. Co-founder Niklas Sjöö and his brother Lars definitely have fuel in their blood, with a family history within Esso, Statoil and later Circle K. Chairman Fredrik Törnqvist has spent his entire career in the fuel industry, at Statoil, OKQ8 and later Neste, where he built up the Swedish business.

Says Karl-Oskar Tjernström: "For us, Sweden is just a stepping stone, as we plan to do this on a global scale. Our technology is highly scalable, both in size and in terms of applications, and can be mass produced by large composite shipyards close to our end customers anywhere in the world. We have already garnered quite a bit of interest, obviously from the Nordics and Europe, but also as far away as French Polynesia, New Zealand and Alaska. To say that we're excited about the future is an understatement", says Karl-Oskar.

First unit in production at SwedeShip Composite - photo © Fossil Free Marine

Facts:

• Hull construction in advanced composite with proprietary lamination schedule
• Length: 24 m, width: 4,3 m, weight appr. 35 tons (empty)
• Internal volume: 60 m3, divided into six separate fuel tanks
• Central filling with integrated fuel spill containment
• Fuel dispensers based on customer requirements, including service agreements
• Designed and built in Sweden, by major composite shipyard Swedeship Composite
• Fully unmanned operations, 24/7/365
• Life expectancy: >50 years

Key advantages:

• Construction is future proofed from an environmental and safety perspective, and well protected from fuel theft, with all piping securely below deck, beneath a single locked access hatch.
• Enables increasing the number of fuel qualities, allowing the operator to more closely follow changes in consumer demand, e.g offering smaller volumes of more niche fuels, such as specific biofuels, while maintaining financially viable operations.
• Complies with even the most stringent environmental safety regulations, e.g for freshwater reservoirs, and provides a future proofing for coming regulations for other sensitive marine environments.
• Increased volume capacity enables more profitable operations, due to improved logistics and lower risk of out-of-stock.
• Stays level at all times even with varying tank volumes, thus ensuring safe unmanned operations as well as giving reassurance to end customers.
• Composite tanks are compatible with all types of liquid fuels, including more corrosive modern biofuels, making the product future-proofed.