IAPH: CLEAN FUEL OPPORTUNITIES
CLEAN FUEL OPPORTUNITIES Felicity Landon reviews the principal findings of the Getting Ready for Zero Carbon Marine Fuels session at the IAPH World Ports Conference – diverse opportunities are identified
8 Maximising safety in the transition to clean fuels is of paramount importance – Amsterdam has developed LNG check lists
Ports have the opportunity to become the epicentre of energy production, energy distribution and energy consumption, according to José Firmo, IAPH Vice-President Central and South America. Speaking at the IAPH World Port’s conference session on ‘Getting Ready for Zero Carbon Marine Fuels’, he said: “I think bunkering and what’s going to happen with green fuels in the future is probably just a component of what ports should be doing in terms of strategic positioning for this new energy business that is coming. I am sure it is going to be much bigger than this.” Firmo, who is CEO, Porto do Açu, Brazil, pointed out the huge amount of energy required and added: “What we probably don’t know about the oil & gas industry is that it declines at a rate of about 15 per cent every year, so just to maintain the same amount of production, a huge amount of money needs to be invested. “So, with the whole story about energy availability in the future coming from the decline of oil & gas and the global growth of required energy, it is just an amazing opportunity – and we are going to transition to something.” Right now, the absolute best strategy is to keep discussing, he said. “Let’s make sure our strategies in our ports are ambitious enough to take that position, not in one aspect of it but in the entire spectrum of how it can change completely the energy landscape.” Flexibility is the key, he added. “Let’s make sure we don’t close ourselves to any one of these solutions.” FUEL READINESS Peter Alkema, Chair of the IAPH Clean Marine Fuels (CMF) Working Group and also representing the Port of Amsterdam’s Harbour Master Division, said: “It’s all about fuel readiness – being a fuel-ready port. That is, having availability of fuel and
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visibility, infrastructure, regulation, your governance, but also having safety management in place.” Ports looking at fuel readiness can start with small amounts in the pioneer stage, he advised. As for regulation, “maybe the regulations are not in place, or you have to make them yourself as a port”. Safety has to be 100 per cent, said Alkema. “You have to arrange for safety management before you can even start a project and support the pioneers in the industry.” The CMF working group has developed LNG checklists, and these are now being developed as liquefied gas checklists including for hydrogen. The working group also has blueprints for checklists for methanol, and checklists for ammonia are being worked on, he said. “There is also the system-based level; for example, we have an audit tool that can support a port authority or any competent authority in assessing the SMS of a bunker operator, assessing the way it interacts with all the other players that are part of the bunkering.” He also noted the value of a ‘bunker terminal ready’ tool which helps terminals to get experience and guidance in receiving vessels fuelled by hydrogen, methanol or ammonia, whether for bunkering or just being alongside. “You may even think,” he suggested, “I am not a bunker hub, so I don’t need all these tools’ – but you are in the future going to receive vessels that sail on big amounts of methanol, big amounts of ammonia, for example, and terminals have to be ready for these vessels. You have to have a certain readiness in time for the new fuels that will be used,” he emphasised. The Port of Amsterdam is already a major energy hub for the Netherlands, noted Alkema. It also has experience in making difficult transitions – from being a major coal port to no longer handling coal for the hinterland in Germany. He further pointed out Amsterdam is already a ‘multifuel’
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