LNG Bunkering

SEA-LNG: Invest more in LNG bunker vessels, supply and liquefaction infrastructure

LNG bunker market, while growing substantially, is lagging and concerns persist regarding the ability to supply the rapidly growing fleet of LNG-fuelled vessels.

Published

1 month ago

December 6, 2024

Admin

SEA-LNG: Invest more in LNG bunker vessels, supply and liquefaction infrastructure

Industry coalition SEA-LNG on Thursday (5 December) said that while the approximately 2,200 LNG-fuelled vessels and LNG carriers represent only ‘two minutes into the hour’ of the global fleet of approximately 60,000 deep sea vessels, it remains an adolescent fuel that is maturing significantly faster than other alternative bunker fuels.

However, it said the LNG pathway still needs more investment, especially in landside facilities for liquefaction near ports, bio and synthetic methane production and bunkering capacity worldwide.

This year has witnessed unprecedented investment in the maturing and scaling of LNG from ship owners. LNG is starting to dominate as the preferred future fuel pathway.

However, the bunker market, while growing substantially, is lagging and concerns persist regarding the ability to supply the rapidly growing fleet of LNG-fuelled vessels.

Peter Keller, Chairman, SEA-LNG, said: “With high profile owners now choosing the LNG pathway, we anticipate this trend will continue and accelerate through 2025 and beyond.”

“As the various alternative fuel pathways mature, there is a growing realisation that, despite previous aspirations, some alternative fuel pathways – like the LNG pathway – are more practical and realistic than others.”

“While investment in newbuild LNG-fuelled ships is robust, we need to see the same for bunker vessels, supply and liquefaction infrastructure. As the LNG pathway continues to mature and the use of liquefied biomethane and eventually e-methane increases, the delivery of the fuel to vessels must be assured and the investment gap closed.”

Keller added: “There are approximately 60,000 deep sea ships on the water and, today, we’re looking at around 600 LNG capable ships afloat with a further 600 on order. There are another 1,000 LNG cargo carriers and bunker vessels of varying sizes.”

“While that’s a small percentage of the global fleet, as the clock ticks towards shipping’s emissions reduction targets, the LNG pathway is maturing far faster than other alternative fuels.”

According to DNV there are currently 54 methanol vessels and 2 ammonia vessels on the water.

There are aspects of LNG usage that are fully mature – safety for one. LNG is easy to transport, poses minimal, if any, risk to marine environments, has a low flammability range and is non-toxic. Effective regulations, standards and guidelines for safe operations are widespread, and LNG has been shipped around the world for almost 60 years without any major incidents at sea or in ports.

Keller continued: “When compared to traditional fuels, LNG is more of a teenager with all the growing pains, challenges and victories associated with adolescence.”

“But it is maturing all the time as the market continues to grow, new build orders continue to rise, and the LNG pathway with biomethane and eventually e-methane produced from renewable hydrogen, gains acceptance globally.”

“Shipping stakeholders are investing in LNG because it provides a low risk, incremental pathway for decarbonisation, starting now. The other alternative fuels are basically toddlers by comparison. And when it comes to safety, some are mere newborns!”

Another critical need in the maturing process during a period of increased regulation of carbon emissions is the adoption of standardised chain of custody models on a worldwide basis.

Chain of custody models are becoming increasingly important to maritime decarbonisation as they provide mechanisms to verify that the fuels used are low carbon.

Such verification creates investor confidence in new fuel supply chains and accelerates the transition to low-carbon fuels, enabling early adoption in conditions of limited supply.

“They will create a market for green fuels by connecting buyers to fuel producers away from bunker ports enabling faster scaling and providing flexibility to shipping companies at lower cost,” SEA-LNG added.

Photo credit: SEA-LNG
Published: 6 December, 2024

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Bunker Fuel

China: Zhoushan Port achieves 7.26 million mt annual bunker volume for 2024

Zhoushan Hi-Tech Zone Administrative Committee highlighted the progress Zhoushan Port has made in the past year including actively planning to build an alternative fuel bunkering centre.

Published

24 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Admin

China: Zhoushan Port achieves 7.26 million mt annual bunker volume for 2024

Zhoushan Hi-Tech Zone Administrative Committee on Friday (10 January) said Zhoushan, the fourth largest bunkering port of the world, delivered 7.26 million metric tonnes (mt) of marine fuel in 2024.

This marked about a 3% increase from 7.04 million mt in 2023.

The committee also highlighted the progress Zhoushan Port has made in the past year including actively planning to build an alternative fuel bunkering centre.

It has successfully obtained approval for the national biodiesel promotion and application pilot project. The construction of a project to produce an annual 1 million mt of marine biodiesel has begun.

The first methanol vehicle-to-ship pilot was carried out, and the first methanol bunkering barge in Zhoushan was officially built and is expected to be put into use by the end of 2025.

The port has also improved the fuel supply efficiency of various bunkering anchorages in Zhoushan including Tiaozhumen Anchorage adding three bunkering anchorages on top of the original five and has successfully carried out night bunkering operations.

Xiushandong and Mazhi anchorages have added a total of three new bonded bunkering anchorages, which can implement all-weather and fully automatic anchorage reservations, and provide advance reservations and priority refueling services for large ships and large orders.

The committee also highlighted Dong Fang Zhao Yang becoming the first domestic bunkering barge to obtain the mass flow meter system certification under the ISO22192:2021 standard. The barge conducted a successful pilot for the bunkering of bonded fuel oil using a mass flow meter at Xiushandong Anchorage on 9 December.

A spokesperson of the committee said Zhoushan will focus on promoting alternative bunker fuels such as biofuel and LNG and accelerating the completion of methanol refuelling safety assessments.

Photo credit: Zhoushan Hi-Tech Zone Administrative Committee
Published: 14 January, 2025

Decarbonisation

DNV and Alfa Laval: What can drive the energy transition in shipping?

Rasmus Stute from DNV interviews Sameer Kalra of Alfa Laval on the company’s innovative approach to energy transition, emphasizing fuel-agnostic solutions, and energy efficiency.

Published

24 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Admin

Rasmus Stute from DNV interviews Sameer Kalra, President of the Marine Division and Executive Vice President at Alfa Laval, on key industry trends including the company's innovative approach to the energy transition, emphasizing fuel-agnostic solutions, energy efficiency and close collaboration with third parties to meet future challenges:

We met recently at the SMM trade fair, always a really important date on the shipping calendar. What were your takeaways?

The first thing that stood out to me was that energy efficiency seems to be really high on the agenda, alongside LNG as an alternative fuel. Secondly, digitalization seems to be much more in focus than just a couple of years ago. This is why it is so great to come to these trade shows; you can hear what the industry’s talking about and it really helps to calibrate your own views.

At SMM, we launched our latest Maritime Forecast to 2050, which focuses on the building blocks needed for the energy transition in shipping. From Alfa Laval’s perspective how are you going to respond to the energy transition? Is this a significant challenge or something you’ve already anticipated?

The one thing that Alfa Laval is absolutely known for is being innovative from the beginning and that’s still part of the company’s DNA. So when we started working around decarbonization and the energy transition roughly five or six years ago, we took the position that as Alfa Laval we needed to put our money where our mouth was. And, instead of just telling others to decarbonize, we also set some goals for ourselves for 2030. Right now, we expect to meet our Scope 1 and 2 net zero targets ahead of schedule. (PS: After this interview took place, Alfa Laval announced an updated goal to achieve net zero in its own operations by 2027, covering Scope 1 and 2 emissions.)

However, challenges remain, particularly supporting customers in areas outside our direct control, such as fuel choice. Shipowners have a tough challenge, finding a vessel design and choosing a fuel that is economically viable, commercially attractive and future-proof for the next 20–25 years. Recognizing this complexity early on, we positioned ourselves to support shipowners with versatile, future-ready solutions. In particular, one major initiative has been to ensure our product portfolio is fuel-agnostic.

Additionally, we have prioritized the development of new platforms focused on energy efficiency. Another key step has been the acquisition of StormGeo, which, whilst unconventional for a company like Alfa Laval, aligns with our strategy to address the evolving energy efficiency and sustainability demands of the maritime industry. Ultimately, our commitment is to provide solutions that enable both immediate and long-term decarbonization goals.

You mentioned key elements like energy efficiency and fuel flexibility, and you have set up your company to address these challenges. Looking ahead to 2030, what do you envision will be your most important products to support customers with these trends?

It is challenging to be definitive about specific products, but we can identify trends. Our energy efficiency portfolio will play an increasingly important role, even more so than it does today. Transitioning to clean fuels will also grow in importance. If I were to highlight one area, it would be energy efficiency over the short term.

Given the challenges in scaling up the supply of green methanol and ammonia by 2030, boosting energy efficiency becomes an essential, immediate necessity for the industry. At Alfa Laval, all three of our divisions – Marine, Energy, and Food and Water – will contribute to these efforts. In the near term, we will focus on enhancing energy efficiency in existing systems whilst introducing new, innovative energy efficiency platforms across our product portfolio to support our customers in navigating this energy transition.

I’ve a follow-up question on the energy transition. How do you feel about the role of carbon capture and storage in this process?

From our perspective, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is set to play an important role, particularly on the energy side. However, the role of onboard carbon capture specifically is less clear. These are two different challenges and we need to approach them with an open mind. For instance, it’s possible that LNG could be a transitional fuel that achieves a 20% reduction in emissions. If onboard carbon capture technology could add another 10–15% reduction on top of that, it might be a viable step forward.

However, there are still many questions to address. We need to solve challenges related to the footprint of onboard carbon capture systems, as well as their cost-benefit ratios. These are critical factors that must be worked out before onboard carbon capture becomes a widespread solution. That said, I have confidence in the ingenuity of the maritime industry, and I am optimistic that we will find ways to overcome these challenges.

And whilst there are still questions to answer, I firmly believe that carbon capture and storage, both on land and onboard, could make a significant contribution towards accelerating the energy transition.

Note: The full interview by DNV can be found here.

Photo credit: Venti Views on Unsplash
Published: 14 January, 2025

LNG Bunkering

ENGINE on LNG Bunker Snapshot: Rotterdam’s price inches up on higher bunker premiums

Rotterdam’s LNG bunker price has risen on higher bunker premiums, while Singapore’s price has been steady amid subdued demand in the broader Asian LNG market.

Published

1 day ago

January 14, 2025

Admin

ENGINE on LNG Bunker Snapshot: Rotterdam’s price inches up on higher bunker premiums

Once a week, bunker intelligence platform ENGINE will publish a snapshot of LNG bunker prices in the world’s two biggest bunkering hubs. The following is the latest snapshot:

Rotterdam’s LNG bunker price has risen on higher bunker premiums, while Singapore’s price has been steady amid subdued demand in the broader Asian LNG market.

Changes in weekly LNG bunker prices:

Rotterdam up by $15/mt to $863/mt
Singapore up by $6/mt to $870/mt

Rotterdam

Rotterdam's LNG bunker price has risen by $15/mt over the past week, reaching $863/mt. This increase was mainly driven by a surge in LNG bunker premiums, which more than doubled from around $70/mt to $145/mt during this period.

Cold weather in Europe and high gas withdrawal rates have also added upward pressure on LNG prices. The gas withdrawal rate refers to the speed at which natural gas is extracted from storage to meet demand.

“Cold weather has been driving up heating demand and gas withdrawal rates have been faster than expected. EU storage has now dropped below 70% capacity, which is a bit below average for the time of year and far below the 85% we had heading into 2024,” said Emma Richards, associate director of oil and gas at research firm BMI.

Gas prices were also supported by an outage caused by a compressor failure at Equinor's Hammerfest LNG plant in northern Norway, which processes gas from the Snøhvit natural gas field.

“Snøhvit’s restart date was extended by 10 days to 19 January compared to the initial estimated restart date of 10 January, following a trip on 2 January. This may provide support for prices,” noted energy research firm Rystad Energy.

Meanwhile, the front-month Dutch TTF Natural Gas contract, a key European gas market benchmark, dropped by $1.16/MMBtu ($60/mt) to $13.81/MMBtu ($718/mt) during the same period.

Singapore

Singapore’s LNG bunker price has remained broadly stable in the past week, amid tepid demand in the overall Asian LNG market.

LNG bunker prices in the region are generally linked to NYMEX Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) values. The front-month JKM contract fell by $0.20/MMBtu ($10/mt) to $14.16/MMBtu ($736/mt) during the same period.

“Fundamentals remain weak in Asia with limited purchase interests stemming from China and South Korea, while some buyers such as CPC Corporation, Thailand's PTT, Bangladesh’s RPGCL and northeast Japanese power utility Tohoku Electric were seeking spot LNG for February and March delivery,” Rystad Energy said.

Going forward, Japanese LNG demand could get a boost from planned maintenances at two nuclear power plants in Takahama and Ohi.

“However, buying interests from Japanese importers remain limited as major importers have bought in advance,” Rystad said.

By Tuhin Roy

Photo credit and source: ENGINE
Published: 14 January, 2025