🔔 Subscribe to ShipUniverse Weekly →
Brazil Just Started Regularly Fueling Containerships With Ethanol
Can sugarcane become a global marine fuel? Santos has the supply chain. Energy density, tank space, cost and carbon intensity still set the limit.
A 13,000-TEU container ship took on Brazilian sugarcane ethanol at Santos on October 19. Copersucar wants to supply roughly 10 million litres for marine use by December and is targeting 200 million litres in 2027. The ship can burn the fuel. The harder test is supplying it economically on a liner schedule, then doing that in dozens of ports.
From demonstration to a fuel market
The actual timelineFirst Santos transfer
The initial CMA CGM IRON demonstration delivered 500,000 litres of anhydrous sugarcane ethanol, according to the project partners.
First regular-phase fueling
The same 13,000-TEU ship was bunkered at Santos. The October transfer volume and delivered price were not disclosed.
Target: 20× growth
Copersucar's CEO outlined a goal of 200 million litres next year and potential supply points in Singapore and the United States. Approvals and infrastructure remain to be developed.
One Brazilian port, five links in the chain
Already in place at SantosAnhydrous sugarcane ethanol, sourced via associated producers
Moves contracted fuel toward the port
Liquid-bulk handling and storage infrastructure
Alcohol-specific transfer procedures and safety controls
Transfer at the Santos Brasil container terminal
The scale problem hiding behind 10 million litres
Annualised energy comparisonThe supply target is material for a new bunkering trade and tiny beside the fuel market it aims to enter. Using about 270 billion litres of conventional marine fuel a year, 1% replacement on an equal-energy basis requires approximately 5.1 billion litres of ethanol.
Brazil's total 2025 ethanol production according to its 2026 National Energy Balance, including sugarcane, corn and other feedstocks. Not an uncommitted export surplus.
Illustrative share of 2025 Brazilian ethanol production that would be needed to supply ethanol equal to just 1% of the cited global marine-fuel energy pool.
The port partners' 270-billion-litre estimate covers a global fuel mix; using VLSFO-equivalent energy content simplifies that mix. Figures are sizing exercises, not predicted orders or available exports. The 2027 200M-litre target equals approximately 0.52% of 2025 Brazilian production.
The physics: 1,000 m³ is not 1,000 m³
Representative lower heating valuesVLSFO reference
39.8 MJ/L40.2 MJ/kg × 0.991 kg/L
Anhydrous ethanol
21.1 MJ/L26.7 MJ/kg × 0.789 kg/L
Methanol
15.8 MJ/L19.9 MJ/kg × 0.796 kg/L
Approximate ethanol volume needed to match VLSFO energy, before engine-efficiency differences, pilot fuel, usable-tank geometry or reserves.
Ethanol carries more energy per tonne than methanol. That improves the alcohol-fuel volume equation, but does not make an oil-fuel tank directly usable for ethanol.
The two numbers an operator still needs
Price and verified emissionsFuel cost per useful gigajoule
Not $/tonne aloneA tonne of ethanol contains materially less energy than a tonne of VLSFO. A seemingly competitive ethanol price can become a premium after the extra tonnes needed are counted.
Certified well-to-wake emissions
Not zeroBiogenic feedstock, processing heat, transport and land-use assumptions affect the lifecycle result. A 2026 comparative academic pathway modeled 42.7 gCO₂e/MJ for sugarcane ethanol against 91.9 for VLSFO; those are not verified factors for this cargo.
CMA CGM IRON uses an Everllence-B&W G95ME-C10.5-LGIM tri-fuel engine certified for ethanol, methanol and conventional fuel. Other methanol-ready ships are not automatically approved for ethanol.
Pumping rate, berth overlap, storage certification, firefighting systems and shutdown procedures determine whether fueling fits a liner call.
Whether a fuel pathway earns a commercial premium depends on auditable chain-of-custody and the applicable jurisdictional rules, not a generic advertised reduction.
ETHANOL BUNKER ECONOMICS / LIVE MODEL
Test the next Santos stem. Start with illustrative ship demand, fuel prices and certified carbon-intensity placeholders. The model gives the ethanol quantity needed, cash cost, break-even carbon value, tank fit, transfer duration and how many modeled stems the announced supply targets support.
Within assumed approved usable storage.
Assumes planned bunkering can overlap with cargo operations.
Equivalent bunker fuel
693 tEnergy-equivalent VLSFO displaced
Well-to-wake avoided
1,365 tModeled CO₂e avoided per stem, if pathway assumptions hold
Fuel delivered to ship
1,044 tAnhydrous ethanol mass per stem
Carbon value × delivered ethanol price
Cash advantage of ethanol after illustrative monetized emissions benefit, versus the same useful energy from VLSFO. Click a cell to load those inputs.
Three executable decisions
Assumptions, not published quotations| Condition | Ethanol $/t | Carbon value $/t | Ethanol cost incl. extras | VLSFO cost displaced | Avoided CO₂e | Net vs VLSFO after carbon | Berth / tank clearance |
|---|