conventional fuel. With the LNG marine fuel industry still in
its infancy, CME believes that the issues to consider are
different from those expected in a mature industry.
The company states that long-term contracts of
approximately 10 years are necessary to justify the
investment needed to build a liquefaction facility and
provide point specific, low cost LNG, adding that
approximately 50 000 gal./d of demand is needed as a
baseload for a dedicated small scale liquefaction facility.
Even so, moderately priced interim solutions, such as
trucking, are available to seed the market, and onshore or
offshore storage facilities that are filled only on demand
can be used to pipe LNG directly to customers, meaning
that not every market needs a dedicated liquefaction
facility.
However, just as in LNG-fuelled shipping, CME believes
that a long-term vision is necessary to realise LNG
bunkering projects. The company claims that multiple
parties need to step forward together. For instance, a
shipping company needs to be willing to take a long-term
fuel contract, and a development company needs to invest
significant capital to build infrastructure. CME concludes
that there are advantages to be had for the early adopters,
who will benefit from preferred pricing as anchor tenants
once the rest of the industry catches up.
Meeting technical and
regulatory demands
As is clear from the experience of owners and operators to
date, there is no doubt that whether building a bunkering
barge, planning fixed bunkering facilities or constructing
LNG-fuelled or LNG-ready vessels, demands are stringent
in all respects. These include not just compliance with
state and federal regulations, but co-operation on technical
standards and consideration of the specific requirements of
gas handling and storage.
Crowley claims that the challenges of using LNG as
fuel for commercial vessels meant co-operation and
collaboration among the owner, the shipyard, the
shipyard’s design partners and ABS was vitally important.
CME agrees that partnerships are critical to success. It
claims that the close co-ordination that is required
between teams to ensure success is both paramount and
difficult, but committed operators have the greatest
probability of success as they take the necessary forward
steps to advance the LNG marine fuel industry.
Another issue to consider is that some vendors and
suppliers are only now becoming involved in this market,
so companies should choose their partners wisely. The use
of trusted advisors is crucial, since the knowledge base on
this subject, while growing quickly, is still comparatively
small.
What is not in doubt is that the marine industry in
North America has already made significant progress in
adopting LNG as fuel. Pioneers, including Crowley, CME
and others, have played a role not just in overcoming the
technical requirements, but also in building the capacity
– both physical and financial – that encourages the wider
development of this exciting, innovative technology.
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