The effect of increasingly stricter air emissions legislation implemented through International Maritime Organization (IMO) Annex VI and other local air quality controls, together with favorable financial conditions for the use of natural gas instead of liquid fuel oil as a bunker fuel is increasing the number of marine vessel owners that are considering the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel.
The approach of LNG is something rather new; it is the chicken and the egg issue. Do we need firstly the terminal, do we need firstly the fuel, do we have the appropriate ships? In order to take the decision, we need both the ships and also the terminals for LNG. I would like to highlight the important factors to be considered; social perception, financial issues, regulatory and authorization aspects, logistics scenario and the technical solutions.
During early March 2013 EMSA released a study on Standards and Rules for Bunkering of Gas-Fuelled Ships with the objective of providing a detailed description of the existing rule framework related to LNG bunkering. Currently about 30 gas-fuelled vessels are operating mostly in the Baltic Sea and Norwegian waters most of them on the authority of the Norwegian administration. Hence, Norway had early on experience with gas as fuel for ships and initiated the development of the IMO’s international ‘Guidelines on Safety for Natural Gas-Fuelled Engine Installations in Ships’ in 2004.
The global sulphur cap of 0.5%, which the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will implement between 2020 and 2025 is expected to accelerate the adoption of LNG as fuel for shipping globally, provided that bunkering infrastructure is available. Corresponding developments for LNG bunkering and phasing-in of LNG fuelled ships have already started, although not in Australia.
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Officer of the Watch 