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

New York's Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) has awarded its first tender for renewable diesel for use in its ferries and other vessels.

NEW YORK, March 31, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- New York's Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) has awarded its first tender to buy renewable diesel for its ferries. The tender is part of a plan announced in October 2024 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 US, 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, P66 Rodeo and the Martinez renewables project refinery, a joint venture between Neste and Marathon, have switched from making petroleum diesel to renewable diesel. Companies have also invested in expanding renewable diesel capacity in the US Gulf coast.

DCAS, the NYC Department of Transportation, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and NYC Parks 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 US Gulf coast.

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

DCAS Deputy Commissioner and NYC Chief Fleet Officer Keith Kerman said: "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 2024, 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 US 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 US, Europe and Asia.

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About Argus Media

Argus is the leading independent provider of market intelligence to the global energy and commodity markets. We offer essential price assessments, news, analytics, consulting services, data science tools and industry conferences to illuminate complex and opaque commodity markets.

Headquartered in London with over 1,500 staff, Argus is an independent media organisation with 30 offices in the world's principal commodity trading hubs.

Companies, trading firms and governments in 160 countries around the world trust Argus data to make decisions, analyse situations, manage risk, facilitate trading and for long-term planning. Argus prices are used as trusted benchmarks around the world for pricing transportation, commodities and energy.

Founded in 1970, Argus remains a privately held UK-registered company owned by employee shareholders and global growth equity firm General Atlantic.

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