46 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • MAY 2014
Q
MARINE POWER REPORT
Tim Protheroe, LR
We see an increasingly important fu-
ture for LNG as a marine fuel and par-
ticularly in North America. Right now
LNG is being taken up mainly by small-
er ferries, by short-haul Jones Act con-
tainership operators, and OSVs. Lakes
operators are likely to be next. Gas is
relatively cheap and abundant in North
America – we classed the fi rst LNG car-
riers and with the largest share of LNG
carrier classifi cation we are well placed
to offer the gas technology support and
risk management that shipping needs as
gas—as-fuel evolves. Today we are in-
volved in LNG-as-fuel projects in North
America and around the world. Our
work with the Port of Singapore is help-
ing set a template for the development of
LNG bunkering in major ports.
Paal Johansen, DNV GL
Considering the barriers to LNG as
a fuel up until now, we believe that
LNG as a fuel is an “all, or nothing at
all” proposition. And we have reached
the tipping point. It used to be said that
LNG was a chicken or egg problem, but
in the US we not only have the egg, but
the chicken and the henhouse too. As we
see this trend grow, DNV GL is working
to ensure that owners can be confi dent
that the technology is vetted, operational
practices such as bunkering and crew
training are in place, and the supporting
infrastructure is meeting stringent safety
standards. We are also working for the
US Government and IMO to determine
and remove the barriers to develop the
necessary infrastructure and regulation
for the supply side of LNG as a fuel. As
a curiosity, the LNG fuelled ferry oper-
ating between Buenos Aires and Monte-
video is the worlds´ fastest commercial
ship at over 58 knots (classed by DNV
GL), and I think this is a good indication
also of how fast we will see a change in
this fi eld. The growing number of large
LNG ready ships currently being built is
also evidence of this.
We think North America and then Eu-
rope will be the fi rst to get everything
in place, soon followed by Singapore,
China and Australia. So in 2020, we be-
lieve LNG is the standard for short sea
shipping in North America and around
the North Sea. For deep-sea shipping we
believe that some routes between Asia,
North America and the North Sea area
will have the infrastructure in all ends to
support bigger ships. With the infrastruc-
ture set to be widely available in 2025,
we are already seeing a rush of invest-
ments to strengthen this trend.
Roberto P. Cazzulo, RINA
The use of LNG as fuel is a fundamen-
tal matter that will further progress in
the next years, in particular for short sea
shipping and internal navigation. The
NOx Tier III and SOx emission limits
in designated ECAs (including North
America and US Caribbean Sea) and
SECAs (currently the Baltic and North
Seas) will drop. Dedicated & reliable
emission control technologies, such as
exhaust gas recirculation, selective cata-
lytic reduction, scrubbers are needed.
Instead, LNG may be used as a viable
alternative. However, a lot of issues are
to be resolved, both on board, for LNK
storage capacity, and ashore, in particu-
lar looking at ships’ integration with
regasifi cation plants and bunkering sta-
tions.
Such a network of bunkering stations
is presently not available, except in Nor-
way and some ports in the Baltic Sea.
The situation is rapidly evolving in the
US, where large amounts of natural gas
will become available. In Europe, there
is an on-going study that hopefully will
lead to some concrete proposals in the
near future for short-sea shipping in the
Mediterranean and Black Seas. We are
working on it and we have technical
know-how, for instance in fl oating re-
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LNG As Fuel
continues to pick
up support. Look-
ing at the loom-
ing emission and
fuel regulations
to and through
2020, please com-
ment on how you
see “LNG as Fuel”
evolving in the
coming six years?
DNV GL
MR #5 (42-49).indd 46 5/1/2014 12:13:37 PM
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