Took a gentleman (down to earth type) from a city hotel out to the airport this morning, and was fascinated by conversation with him.
In short, he owns the Rabaul Shipping Line and runs 18 ships (mainly passenger carrying).
13 of these ships run on normal deisel fuel but 5 of them run on pure coconut oil!
He said the Japs were using coconut oil for fuel at some stage during the war, and the people of Bouginville were using it to power their generators during the 'troubles'.
He gave me comparison of prices he pays for deisel and cocnut oil - the oil is now markedly cheaper.
He finds the oil gives more power, and it actually cleans the engines. (As an aside, it also provides a pleasant smell for passengers, unlike the smell of deisel).
I asked him why he doesn't have all ships on it - only the 5 have dual power lines and he sees it as a safety precaution to have an alternative fuel source at this stage since the ships carry paasengers.
He also needs to start the engines on deisel, let tehm warm up for 30 minutes and then be able to switch over to coconut oil.
Diesel invented his engine before dieseline existed, and designed it to run on butter, or 2 alternative substances (and I've forgotten what they are).
The gentleman volunteered he would be happy to provide info to any small operator who was interested in using coconut oil as a fuel source.
By the way, his company runs Nissan 4 wheel drives in New Guinea .... on coconut oil!
