LNG

Port Everglades adds shore-to-ship capability

Sawgrass LNG & Power has completed the first shore-to-ship LNG bunkering operation at the Florida port, extending US cruise bunkering options on the Atlantic coast. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection vessel Ilma was fuelled at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, with Miami-headquartered Sawgrass announcing completion of the operation. The development adds to a US bunkering picture reshaped by regulatory clarification. The Department of Energy's Order 5233-A confirmed that ship-to-ship LNG bunkering in US waters does not constitute an export under the Natural Gas Act, removing a material brake on approvals and rebalancing risk allocation for developers. That clarification has not by itself delivered assets. Jones Act compliance requirements continue to inflate capital expenditure for domestically built bunker units and to lengthen schedules, with growth remaining concentrated in a handful of hubs while vessels, ports and shipyards catch up with demand.