B9 Shipping boss David Surplus says the plan is to transfer the technology to build eco-friendly ships in developing countries.

It is in line with the United Nations (UN) principle that money should flow from carbon-reduction schemes globally to help poorer economies mitigate climate change.

Surplus says B9 Shipping is pulling together various companies with which it hopes to collaborate, including Tata of India-owned Corus.

The intention is for Corus to produce steel for the newbuildings using environmentally friendly torrefied wood instead of regular coal in its blast furnaces.

Rolls-Royce would supply the spark-ignition engines and fuel-storage package needed because of the carbon-neutral vessels burning biogas instead of diesel.

Methane-rich biogas is sourced from the anaerobic digestion of food waste - of which, Surplus says, millions of tonnes each year are sent to UK landfill sites with the consequent release of greenhouse gasses.

All this is off-the-shelf technology, adds Surplus, who has turned to naval architect Rob Humphreys, the man responsible for Dame Ellen MacArthur's record-breaking yacht Kingfisher , to work on the sail and hull-efficiency design concepts.

"We are definitely building in Britain," said Surplus, although he admits that construction is still at the "information gathering" stage. The Northeast of England currently has the necessary commercial support to secure the work, he says.

Lean manufacturing, combining the best construction techniques from both the shipbuilding and aircraft industries, is how Surplus describes his vision.

Developing countries could use the money they receive from cap-and-trade schemes and possibly bunker-fuel taxes to acquire the type of environmental technologies he is working on. He says that by working with Corus, B9 Shipping hopes to gain access to parent Tata's network of contacts.

Surplus claims that in the future a lot of conventional vessels will be queuing up at the breakers' yards because they are so polluting and lack the potential to be upgraded.

He says the biomass industry itself needs the sail/biogas prototypes of B9 Shipping if it is to comply with the European Union (EU)'s renewable-energy directive, which sets a binding 10% minimum target on member states for the use of biofuels in transport by 2020.

Surplus indicates that he is following a similar path to Cardiff-based Graig Shipping, which has been behind the design, building, ownership and onward sale of numerous Diamond-type handymax bulkers from China and Vietnam.

"Philosophically we are doing the same thing," said Surplus, although he does not envisage selling any of the sail/biofuel newbuildings until a substantial fleet is in the water.

Graig may provide superintendancy services, he says.

Surplus says a major shipping-finance bank it approached said it did not want new clients in the current economic climate and, anyway, he would have to find an established shipping partner.

Piggybacking on such a partner's existing debt is one option but B9 Energy already deals with various banks that may be prepared to put up cash, he says. Surplus claims he also has links with well-known venture capitalists, although that would be a last resort.

Contracts of affreightment (COAs) for the newbuildings would be designed to match the life of bank loans.

Meanwhile, the power generators, he says, are looking to either import wood pellets for use in existing coal-fired facilities or build dedicated wood-fired plants.

Drax, which owns the UK's largest power plant, has a massive carbon footprint, producing a reported 22.3 million tonnes of carbon per year from burning up to 10 million tonnes of coal.

Faced with big bills for emission permits it is looking to reduce its carbon footprint by constructing three 300-MW plants to burn biomass. One will be at Drax in Yorkshire, a second at the Port of Immingham and a third at a so-far undisclosed location in the UK.

It is said also that from June 2010, the existing 4GW thermal power plant at Drax will be able to replace 10% of its coal with biomass, creating the largest biomass co-firing facility in the world. Tests indicate that between 50 and 60 different types of biomass, including agricultural byproducts, can be used.

Surplus argues that by being able to demonstrate the biomass is being transported by fossil-fuel-free ships, developers have a better chance of securing planning permission.

He says work on the B9 Shipping project goes back 12 years looking at different vessel technologies, including hydrogen fuel cells.

"But ultimately, we concluded that biogas was the simplest, most pragmatic way to move forward quickly," he concluded.