New York City begins transition to renewable diesel in marine sector using Argus prices

Photo: New York City Department of Transportation

New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services has awarded its first tender to buy renewable diesel for its ferries.  

The tender is part of a plan announced in October to transition the Staten Island Ferry and other vessels to renewable diesel.  

DCAS is basing its tender—for barge delivery—on the New York Harbor R99 price published by global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus.  

Adopting renewable diesel is part of the DCAS plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions from the New York City Ferry service. 

Renewable diesel (R99) is a biofuel that acts as a drop-in replacement for petroleum diesel with no requirement for engine modifications.  

Use of the fuel has grown in the U.S., spurred by environmental policy.  

California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard has driven big investments in renewable diesel production, and two major refineries in the state, Phillips 66 in Rodeo and the Marathon and Neste joint venture in Martinez, have switched from making petroleum diesel to renewable diesel.  

Companies have also invested in expanding renewable diesel capacity in the U.S. Gulf Coast. 

DCAS, along with the city’s transportation, environmental-protection and parks departments have already begun testing the use of renewable diesel in vessels.  

The barge contract will enable the transition to long-term and large-scale renewable diesel use for city vessels. 

Argus publishes comprehensive coverage of the renewable diesel market, including price assessments for markets in California and the U.S. Gulf Coast. 

“We developed our renewable diesel prices in close consultation with buyers and sellers to provide essential transparency around market value in this evolving space,” said Adrian Binks, the chairman and chief executive of Argus Media. “We are delighted that DCAS is using our price for its ferry fleet-transition program.”  

Keith Kerman, DCAS deputy commissioner and the city's chief fleet officer, added, “We have already moved all our heavy-duty and off-road vehicles to renewable diesel, making us the first major East Coast city to adopt green technology on such a large scale. As announced by the city in October, step two is to move NYC’s ferries and vessels to this more environmentally friendly fuel. DCAS contracts with Argus for fuel-market information and Argus has now provided us with a new resource to compare renewable with conventional fuel pricing in our contracts.”  

Argus’ R99 prices are published daily in the Argus Americas Biofuels report.  

R99 is the most traded grade of renewable diesel in key U.S. spot markets, reflecting volume priced without tax credits or government mandates. 

Argus is the leading provider of renewable fuel indexes and benchmarks for renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel and for the key feedstock used cooking oil across the globe.  

Its indexes are used as the settlement basis for futures contracts in the U.S., Europe and Asia.