Central Tyrrhenian Sea, for the first time in history a refueler, ship Etna, supplies a US Navy and an Italian Navy ship with "green" fuel. It is a very important moment in a process that began in 2012 and which over time has seen the development of a new strategic concept, the Green Fleet - intimately connected with the fleet renewal program - and, for the US Navy, the Great Green Fleet.
Before taking to the sea, the 25 May, in Taranto, the supply ship Etna he embarked the synthetic fuel which was then mixed, for the first time, directly in an on-board depot, thus realizing the Green Diesel. Yesterday the ships supplied were the destroyer Andrea Doria (Italian Navy) e Mason (US Navy). After having joined and passed the equipments that connect, with a system of steel cables in tension, the ships in navigation, the two "probe" of ship Etna - the end of the refueling tube of the refueling machine - the "bells" - the end part of the circuit tube of the refueled ship - of the two destroyers were "crossed". A few moments later, the pumping of green fuel into the crates of the two ships began.
The activity carried out together by the two marinas serves to share the results of research and experimentation conducted in the alternative fuel sector and to ensure the interoperability of the fuels used through practical tests such as refueling at sea.
The experimentation of Green Diesel and the project Green Fleet develop energy saving measures to protect the environment, through the diffusion of bio-derived fuels. Green Diesel is a bio-derived synthetic diesel, produced in Italy in the Eni bio-refinery in Porto Marghera, which allows to obtain a fuel with chemical-physical characteristics comparable to diesel of fossil origin, with the advantage, unlike other derivative fuels biological, to be non-hygroscopic and therefore to have a high stability.
Green Fleet it does not only mean using biofuel but it collects a set of procedures, systems and predispositions, such as LEDs for lighting, special paints for hulls, economic propulsion assets, cleaning the propellers, some already in place that, together, they will make it possible to reduce consumption and save hundreds of tons of fuel per year, as well as contributing to the achievement of the commitments undertaken by Italy and the European Union in the international field on the containment of atmospheric pollutant emissions and greenhouse gases.
After refueling and detachment procedures, all the ships that participated in the training have moved away and are now sailing on different routes. During the weekend, in fact, each of them will visit an important Italian port, Naples, Cagliari, Gaeta, Civitavecchia, Trieste, La Maddalena and Genoa. The stop in the various ports will be an opportunity to promote also on land with the press and the public that they can visit the ships, the Green Fleet , Great Green Fleet.
