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Lloyd's Register CEO Richard Sadler has called on the shipping industry to make preparations for the global drive towards biofuels and argues that if second and third generation technologies are successful then current projections of demand would see the world fleet unable to cope with the logistic demands.

Speaking last night at the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology's (IMarEST) Stanley Gray Lecture, targeted at shipowners, regulators, economists, engineers and the general public, Richard Sadler concluded that the increase in demand for biocargoes would require an additional fleet size of 400 Handysize equivalents by 2030. Moreover, with additional environmental pressures, these vessel requirements may well increase.

Sadler warned the International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Outlook projections for biofuel demand may well be inflated by political pressures to find alternative bio energy in shortening timescales.

The Lloyd's Register CEO said that anticipatory investment would have to be made by the shipping industry as it was "vital to look at ways to hedge the future - through flexible initial oil tanker design for vessels to be constructed now and converted in the future to take advantage of growing biotrade".

Sadler mentioned that current ship designs are constrained by current legislation, which in turn creates poor designs if biofuel becomes a large scale global energy source. He said that new standards may be needed to meet environmental and safety requirements and that it was vital to start considering this at an early stage in order to be able to meet these challenges in the future.