COVER STORY
Steady Stream LNG marine fuel usage for ships is growing. By Bruce Buls, Editor-at-Large
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Q-LNG Transport
t’s the 2020s and maritime companies are starting to scramble, like it or not, to cut greenhouse gas emissions. For those operating under the International Maritime Organization rules, the established guidelines for decarbonization targets a 40% reduction by 2030 and 70% by 2050, compared with 2008 emissions. For others, it’s demand from customers that motivates decarbonization. And for a few, it’s just the right thing to do. One way to reduce carbon emissions is to simply burn less fuel by increasing efficiency and reducing speed, but those
strategies are limited and sometimes impractical. Another method is to operate on an alternative fuel, such as LNG, hydrogen, methanol, ammonia or electricity. Of these, LNG has been adopted at the largest scale, so far. Natural gas, of course, is itself a fossil fuel, but it does burn more cleanly than fuel oils such as diesel. Burning LNG creates emissions with almost no particulate matter or sulfur oxides, and nitrous oxides are greatly reduced. As such, liquified natural gas as a marine fuel is compliant with both SOx and NOx emission limits in coastal Emission Control
The world’s first ATB LNG bunkering barge, the Q-LNG 4000, can carry 4,000 cubic meters of LNG. The 324’ barge is pushed by a 128’ tug, the Q-Ocean Service.
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www.workboat.com • MARCH 2022 • WorkBoat
