LNG

Germany has extended the deadline for grants for equipping and retrofitting seagoing vessels to use LNG as marine fuel for another year, while LNG trucks on German motorways will continue to be except from paying tolls.

The latest US Government short-term energy outlook addressed issued such as high US natural gas inventories and out put as well as low prices and the impact on refined fuel from the forthcoming International Maritime Organization sulfur cap to reduce pollution in ports.

Jiangnan Shipyard Group, one of China's largest shipbuilders, said it was set to sign an agreement to construct five 15,000 TEU, or twenty-foot equivalent unit, dual-fuel container ships with LNG propulsion capabilities.

Mitsui OSK Lines, the Japanese shipping company whose operated fleet includes almost 100 LNG carriers, said that in an uncertain political and economic environment in the year ahead, one issue that would have a notable impact on the global shipping industry is the enforcement of new sulfur-oxide emissions regulations in January 2020.

The American Bureau of Shipping, the US classification society, has held its annual China and Hong Kong business gathering at Xiamen port city on China’s southeast coast at which the main issues were LNG fuel and the International Maritime Organization’s sulfur cap for shipping.

Australian and the Asia-Pacific region shipping companies believe switching to liquefied natural gas is the preferred solution in meeting the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) stringent new international emissions standards for marine bunker fuels.