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28 MN February 2011 The concept of LNG-powered towboats on the inland waterway has attracted the attention of companies like Ship Architects, power specialist Wärtsilä North America and classification society Det Norske Veritas (DNV). “A new millennium class of river towboats will certainly give very strong consideration to adopting natural gas because the emissions reductions and operating cost sav- ings represent a true win-win,” said John Hatley, Vice President of Wärtsilä North America’s Ship Power divi- sion. Wärtsilä was invited by Ship Architects, Inc. to cooper- ate on a new concept LNG towboat design. “Ship Architects was looking at this unique opportunity for the inland rivers and contacted us,” Hatley said. The naval architect firm asked Wärtsilä if they would provide data on their natural gas engines for the design. “Of course we were very willing to assist them because we really believe that natural gas propulsion for marine is going to become a very exciting way forward,” said Hatley. “It’s a much cleaner fuel at the point of combustion so it can achieve stringent future emission standards that the EPA is regulating in the years ahead.” Hatley said tradi- tional diesel fuel engines are finding it more and more dif- ficult to comply with ever increasing emissions standards and Sox (sulfur) maximums. LNG on the other hand, contains no sulfur. Tony Teo is Business Development Manager for DNV America North Maritime, an independent classification society with objectives to safeguard life, property and the environmnent. Teo, based out of Houston, is responsible for the North America region and spends much of his time driving these types of LNG initiatives. Tony Teo and John Hatley have been connected through LNG power concepts in the industry for a while now. “I’ve known John for many years,” Teo said. “I’ve worked with John on this kind of technology for, I’d say, at least five or six years already. Only now it’s beginning to become more popular because there is a price advantage of LNG over low-sulfur fuel as well as various Emission Control Areas (ECAs) coming up in various parts of the world such as the Baltic and North America and other emission control regulations on the horizon.” The LNG Towboat Concept Design Joe Comer is a naval architect and President at Ship Architects, Inc. “A year and a half ago when everyone’s business turned down, we looked for an opportunity to do Image cour tesy Ship Ar chitects, Inc. Outboard profile of Ship Architects, Inc.’s LNG-powered towboat concept design.
