The next shipping boom: LNG bunker barges

2013-08-31

At DNV, we have been talking about LNG bunkering for a long time. We’ve made projections, we’ve designed ships, we’ve made videos, we’ve chaired ISO committees, we’ve done risk assessments, and yet, I was stopped short when I faced this question:

So, how many of these LNG bunkering barges will be needed?

The politically smooth answer, of course, is something like this:

Well, that is a question that depends on the uptake of LNG as a marine fuel in the various geographic regions, which again depends on ship operator’s willingness and ability to embrace new technology, and blablabla…

Alternatively, let’s just do a math exercise: In our Shipping 2020 study, our optimistic scenario indicated a global LNG demand of 15 million tons from shipping. In other studies, we have assumed bunkering will be undertaken by bunkering barges of two size categories, 1600 and 4000 m3. Further assumptions indicate that one bunkering barge on average may do one bunkering operation every second day. This means that 60 off 1600 m3 barges and 24 off 4000 m3 barges could serve the global LNG fuelled fleet in 2020.

And remember, 2020 is the year when growth of LNG in marine applications really takes off, so this fleet of 84 LNG bunkering barges is just the beginning of a whole new shipping market.

Source from : DNV

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