LNG

Peninsula, the leading global independent marine energy supplier founded to fill a gap in the Gibraltar market for bunkering services and benefitting from the assistance of a refinery across the bay in Algeciras in Spain, has successfully supplied Royal Caribbean’s cruise liner “Silver Nova” with LNG fuel in an operation in Gibraltar.

The supply operation was carried out by Peninsula’s latest addition to its fleet, the LNG bunkering vessel “Levante LNG” with 12,500 cubic metres of capacity.

The “Levante LNG” bunker ship arrived at her Mediterranean home at the end of September and is now fully operational in the Strait of Gibraltar and the ports of the Western Mediterranean.

“We are all very proud of hitting this milestone. This is our first LNG supply in Gibraltar keeping us ahead of the decarbonisation curve and marking our move into the physical space through our joint owned, and operated vessel,” explained John A. Bassadone, Chief Executive of Peninsula.

“My thanks also go to Royal Caribbean for their commitment to Peninsula in further advancing a lower-carbon future together,” Bassadone stated.

Shipping asset

Nacho de Miguel, Peninsula’s Head of Alternative Fuels and Sustainability, said the company’s LNG bunkering services in the West Med are now fully operational.

“Our latest asset is a state-of-the-art, dedicated LNG supply vessel that is providing lower carbon alternatives to the global LNG-powered fleet,” said De Miguel.

“I want to thank Royal Caribbean for trusting in us to supply their 'Silver Nova' and I have no doubt this is only the beginning of our decarbonisation journey together,” he added.

Peninsula was also only recently awarded an LNG Bunkering Operator Licence from the Government of Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Port Authority.

“The ability to operate our LNG vessel in the Strait of Gibraltar will bring lower-carbon solutions to vessels entering and leaving the Mediterranean,” said the company at the time.

“The proactivity of the Gibraltar Port Authority and the Government of Gibraltar will continue to cement the jurisdiction’s position as a leading centre for maritime excellence,” Peninsula said.

Far East fixing

The company operates far beyond Gibraltar as well and at the start of October 2023 Peninsula fixed its first Biofuel deal for one of the world’s largest shipping companies from China.

Cosco Shipping Lines, the Shanghai-based international shipping company, teamed up with Peninsula units in Shanghai and Singapore for a re-fuelling with biofuel.

Peninsula’s Shanghai and Singapore trading teams recently combined to deliver 2,000 tons of UCOME-based B24 marine biofuel to the 155,000 deadweight ton Cosco container carrier, the “CSCL Venus”, through local Singapore physical supplier Vitol Bunkers.

Biofuel demand continues to increase as a result of tighter regulation around maritime carbon emissions.

TotalEnergies Marine Fuels, the French major’s bunkering unit, has forecast that the liquefied natural gas market would expand over the next four years, reaching 10 million tonnes per annum of bunker volumes by 2025.

The TotalEnergies bunkering subsidiary came to the conclusion in a 40-page report on the maritime fuel market that offers shippping operators and owners advice on how to navigate the energy transition.

TotalEnergies Marine Fuels looks at the key drivers shaping the move to the decarbonization of shipping and timelines motivating the transition as well as required investments.

“Through our insights, knowledge and thinking, we hope to help develop a greater understanding of the key areas and considerations ship owners and operators will need to address, as they move towards tomorrow’s marine fuels landscape,” declared Jérôme Leprince-Ringuet, Vice-President Marine Fuels at TotalEnergies.

TotalEnergies also forecasts the LNG bunkering market would represent 10 percent of the entire bunkering market by 2030.

The Paris-based company noted that there were about 245 LNG-powered ships currently in operation and the market is expanding, given the number of newbuild orders for LNG-powered vessel.

Bunkering assets

The report added that there were now 26 LNG bunkering vessels in operation globally and the fleet would grow to 43 units offering an aggregated capacity of between 7 MTPA to 8 MTPA by early 2024 and up to 10 MTPA by 2025.

TotalEnergies deployed its first chartered LNG bunkering vessel in 2020. The “Gas Agility” has 18,600 cubic metres capacity and offers services around the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

The French company’s bunkering business partner is the Japanese shipping line, Mitsui OSK Lines.

The sister ship, the “Gas Vitality”, will be based at the Port of Marseille-Fos on the Mediterranean to serve the Marseille-based containerships operator CMA CGM and vessels from MSC Cruises calling at the French port.

The  “Gas Vitality” was launched by the Chinese shipyard of Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding at the end of April 2021.

TotalEnergies shares the use of a third bunker vessel in the Asian port of Singapore, where the company won a licence for LNG bunkering in February 2021.

The TotalEnergies bunkering licence from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore allows the supply of LNG in the Port from 2022.