Maersk suspends Quadrise's alternative fuel trial

Shares in Quadrise Fuels International plummeted on Monday after the company announced that shipping giant Maersk will suspend its trial of a new vessel powered by its alternative fuel until the end of the year.

Quadrise, which supplies MSAR emulsion technology and fuel as a low-cost alternative to heavy fuel oil, said that although the trial is suspended Maersk confirmed that has been successful to date and it wants to continue to work with Quadrise to explore commercial options.

The trial has been suspended due to the unscheduled dry-docking of the vessel that was testing the fuel and Maersk, which is considering alternative test vessels within its fleet for the MSAR trial, is felt unlikely to resume the trial before the fourth quarter of 2017.

However, Maersk indicated that Wärtsilä, a Finnish marine and energy equipment maker, will carry out an inspection of the test vessel's engine during the next few months to verify the performance of the vessel while operating on the alternative fuel, to confirm if the fuel is suitable for its Wärtsilä RT-Flex engine.

Quadrise executive chairman Mike Kirk said: "We are clearly disappointed that Maersk will have to suspend the trial for operational reasons that are unrelated to the MSAR operational trial. However, we are pleased that Maersk has reconfirmed that the trial to date has been successful and that an interim inspection will be completed in the spring, as originally scheduled."

Niels H Bruus, head of future solutions of Maersk Line, added: "During the MSAR trial program Maersk has enjoyed a close and professional collaboration with both our technology partner Quadrise, and supply partner Cepsa, resulting in a smooth operation during which the fuel has performed well.”

Shares in Quadrise Fuels were down 24.85% to 8.83p at 0938 GMT.