European Ships Switch to LNG to Cut Emissions and Comply with EU Law

Ports in Northern Europe are switching to natural gas as a cleaner, cheaper way of powering ships, compared to the traditional fuel oil.

A European Union law has set the target to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry to 40% of 2005 levels by 2050. Switching to liquefied natural gas will play a major part in achieving this goal.

Swedegas, the Swedish infrastructure company, and Vopak, the Dutch oil and gas storage company, have announced that they will jointly invest $155.3 million in an LNG terminal in the port of Gothenburg.

A spokeswoman from Swedegas said, “we can start bunkering (term that refers to the refuelling of ships) in Gothenburg in 2015, and activity will be expanded by 2017.”

By the end of the decade it is expected that LNG fuel stations will be much more common around European ports.

Arthur Barret, the director of LNG bunkering at Gaztranport & Technigaz, said that “it will be at least two years before major deep-sea shipping companies order LNG-powered engines once financing becomes more available. By then, hopefully, there will also be more infrastructure to load LNG as a ship fuel.”

By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com