LNG

Pilot LNG, a US infrastructure company planning the first dedicated liquefied natural gas bunkering facility to serve the Texas Gulf Coast ports of Galveston, Houston and Texas City has signed a cooperation deal with GAC Bunker Fuels (GAC) for the supply of LNG.

The bunker terminal will be located on Pelican Island in the Gulf of Mexico with a final investment decision scheduled for the second half of 2021 and operations starting in 2024.

Pilot LNG and GAC have signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA), which outlines the terms of the partnership.

It prepares the ground for Pilot to provide LNG marine fuel to GAC on a Delivered Ex-Ship (DES) basis for its customers in the Galveston Bay Port complex, as well as Galveston Offshore Lightering Area.

“The Galveston LNG Bunker Port will provide the LNG to supply GAC’s growing market for cleaner marine fuel, particularly as its customers seek economic ways to comply with tightening emissions regulations, including IMO 2020,” said Pilot LNG Chief Executive Jonathan Cook.

“The opportunity to work with such a strong global player like GAC is a very exciting step forward for Pilot and the Galveston project,” added Cook.

The facility infrastructure will be designed around floating liquefaction (FLNG) technology to be engineered, and constructed by Wison Offshore & Marine of Nantong in China.

The Chinese yard is best known for constructing the FLNG barge “Tango FLNG” built in 2017 and other floating LNG vessels.

GAC Global Director for Bunker Fuels, Nicholas Browne, said his company had a proven track record of more than three decades supplying quality marine fuels to the shipping sector.

“This agreement with Pilot will allow us to grow our portfolio of alternative fuels, with LNG as the cleanest and most cost-effective way for shippers to meet compliance,”added Browne.

GAC Bunker Fuels is the world’s only bunkering company with an integrated ISO 9001, 14001, and 45001 certification for bunker procurement that also covers LNG as a marine fuel.

In September 2020, GAC acted as the bunker broker for the Swedish dual-fuelled vessel “Fure Ven” when it became the first non-US flagged vessel to bunker LNG in the United States, taking on supplies at the Port of Jacksonville in Florida.

Pilot has filed regulatory applications with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and other relevant regulatory agencies, paving the way for a Final Investment Decision on the project in 2021.

As international regulators tighten emissions standards, the maritime industry is increasingly turning towards LNG as the marine fuel of choice due to its significantly lower emissions profile and cost competitiveness.

Analysts said the Galveston Bay area was an ideal location to add LNG bunkering infrastructure.

It had more than 10,500 deep-water vessel visits in 2019 and over 133,000 tug/tow movements on the Houston Ship Channel and is the nation’s fourth busiest cruise terminal.

A group of the world’s largest energy and commodities companies, including major LNG cargo market participants Royal Dutch Shell and Total as well as the trading firms Gunvor  and Trafigura have founded the Sea Cargo Charter to disclose the climate-change alignments of their own shipping activities.

Swiss-Swedish company ABB said it was chosen to provide the electric propulsion and power distribution package for Southeast Asia’s first liquefied natural gas hybrid tug ordered to operate in the Port of Singapore.

ABB said its equipment, including energy storage, control and automation technology will be at the heart of the first tug capable of switching between low-emission LNG engines and zero-emission battery power.

The tug, which will operate in Singapore harbour, has been ordered by Sembcorp Marine subsidiary Jurong Marine Services for delivery from the Singapore shipyard by the end of 2020.

LNG as a fuel virtually eliminates sulphur-oxide emissions, while the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) is also incentivizing its use to support the International Maritime Organization’s aims to halve ship carbon-dioxide emissions in the years ahead.

ABB said the project represents the first delivery of ABB’s award-winning power and distribution system, the Onboard DC Grid, for a tug application.

Leveraging the system, the vessel will be able to deploy 904 kilowatt hours of battery power for zero-emission operations, as well as for peak shaving, improving utilization of electricity use on board.

“This is a breakthrough in the tug market for the ABB’s energy storage technologies and a strong validation of Onboard DC Grid™ as the ultimate solution for power management efficiency for hybrid propulsion,” said Juha Koskela, Managing Director of ABB Marine & Ports.

“Future-proofing for a different energy mix makes particular sense for tugs and other port service vessels, as the most likely candidates to face imminent environmental restriction, added Koskela.

“This is also a great example of a local team meeting a regional priority,” he stated.

ABB noted that gas-fueled engines face a particular challenge when it comes to handling the fast-changing load capabilities demanded by tugs.

“Leveraging the Onboard DC Grid system, the tug’s engines will be able to run at variable speeds for optimized LNG fuel economy at each load level,” said the company.

“Additionally, through integration with an energy storage source, the batteries will be able to provide power to the tug’s propulsion system almost instantaneously,” added ABB.

Canadian shipping line, British Columbia Ferries, has awarded another newbuild contract to the Polish Remontowa Shipbuilding company in the Baltic port of Gdansk for a liquefied natural gas-powered vessel.

Crowley Maritime Corp. and subsidiary Jensen Maritime, the company’s Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm, have been honored with awards for the LNG-powered ships engaged in the US-Puerto Rico trade route.