THE environmental advantages of using liquid natural gas
as a shipping fuel are undisputed, but costs are high and there is doubt
whether it makes business.
These findings were contained in the preliminary results
of a European
Commission study that examines the European Union's policies aimed at
reducing emissions from shipping and finding alternative energy sources given
growing constraints on the use of heavy fuels.
A 2012 directive on sulphur content in marine fuels
allowed the use of LNG as an alternative to comply with more stringent emission
standards.
According to the findings, the major motivation for
stakeholders to engage in LNG as a shipping fuel is to be compliant with Emission
Controlled Area (ECA) zone requirements and the related positive
environmental effects, reported American Shipper.
For many shipping companies LNG does not yet offer a
profitable business model due to higher equipment costs for engines and tanks
that are not offset by savings in fuel or operating expenses. Another barrier
to implementation is the lack of existing bunkering infrastructure for LNG.
"This study gives us a solid overview of the
opportunities and remaining challenges for the use of LNG for shipping,"
said maritime transport logistics unit chief at the European Commission, Sandro
Santamato.
"More importantly, the outcome helps us to feed a
public debate on LNG for shipping and provides arguments for a stakeholder
debate at local level."
The study, due to become available in June, is being
conducted by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport,
PwC and DNV-GL.
Source : HKSG.
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