Exploring the Plausible Impacts of Increasing Commercial Transportation of Liquid Bio-Fuel on the Tanker Market

Abstract

In the challenges of energy security, climate change and raising fossil fuel prices, the world is committed to finding solutions to address these problems. As a result, there have been considerable efforts aimed at sustainable development of bio-fuel to compliment fossil fuels. An example is European Union policy target to achieve a 10 % usage of liquid bio-fuel in the road transport sector by 2020. Due to such policy implementation, international liquid bio-fuel trade in the coming years is projected to grow considerably. This is as a result of trade imbalances among countries. The paper adopts open-ended questionnaire, to explore the likely impacts that the increasing commercial transportation of bio-ethanol and bio-diesel will have on the tanker market. The survey reveals that, the impact rests on factors within and outside the market mechanics of the shipping industry.