Adoption of, and interest in, LNG as fuel for ships is gathering pace, but the challenge is as much in safe bunkering and port operations as in ship design: LNG bunkering guidance is one of the key subjects addressed in Lloyd's Register's (LR) latest Gas Technology Report.
'It has been a big year so far for gas in shipping,' comments Luis Benito, LR’s Global Marine Marketing Manager. 'We are seeing robust demand for LNG carriers; the world’s biggest LNG fuelled passenger ship, the LR classed Viking Grace is now in operation in the Baltic Sea carrying 2800 passengers; we have a growing number of gas-as-fuel projects underway or maturing; and late last month Shell took delivery of a brand new inland waterway tanker.'
Managing Port Operation Risks
As the Viking Grace operations show, the port operations are as important as those on-board ship. LR’s LNG bunkering guidance can help ports address the risks involved.
'This is a critical area,' says Benito. 'When you have large centres of population and passenger and freight operations underway, all stakeholders need to get themselves in a position where they can make commercial decisions on the basis that they have addressed the risks involved.'
Methanol
The report also looks at the potential for methanol as a marine fuel – and methanol can be manufactured from LNG. As Benito concludes, 'Gas has a big future, but there are more options than just LNG. Methanol and other alternatives that can be developed from natural gas today, and from bio-sources at some point in the future, are also worth looking at.'
The report can be downloaded at www.lr.org/gas.
