WILLEMSTAD - The American company Steamboat Fuels has chosen Curaçao because of the strategic location of the island and the 'availability of workers with experience in the processing industry'. The company has plans for a factory near Bullen Bay where vegetable oils and animal fats are treated to serve as a raw material for, in particular, the production of renewable diesel.

A branch has been established in Curaçao for this purpose – Steamboat Fuels Curaçao bv – and a letter of intent has been signed with government-owned company Refineria di Kòrsou (RdK). RdK owns the land and installations at the refinery and at Bullen Bay. Steamboat Fuels wants to lease 4.7 hectares for the factory and associated infrastructure.

The raw materials come to Curaçao by boat. When asked whether it is common for treatment to take place elsewhere than where these waste products are produced, Steamboat Fuels replied that “worldwide energy infrastructure is changing” and that “past-based perceptions of what is common are don't always hold true”.

"Vegetable oil is not the main source of income for crushing plants", according to the answers sent by Greggory Moreno, country manager of the Curaçao branch. “Those factories prefer to sell the oil and focus on grinding the beans into flour. That is what the installations are designed for and with which high profits are made.” Such 'crushing plants' process, for example, soybeans, sunflower seeds and cocoa butter.

So it is not surprising that remnants of that process – vegetable oil and animal fats – come to Curaçao and are treated here, only to be transported by boat again as a raw material for renewable diesel. The island has many advantages in that whole process, according to Steamboat Fuels. “We chose Curaçao because of its strategic location and maritime infrastructure.” In addition, the depth of the port and the availability of skilled personnel were decisive factors.