EMEA News
UK Slow on Uptake of LNG Bunkers Compared to Fellow North Sea ECA Countries
The UK has been slower to embrace liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkers than the majority of its fellow North Sea Emission Control Area (ECA) peers, says LNG World Shipping's Mike Corkhill.
Despite this, presentations at the recent Ship-Shore Interface Conference, which was held from May 11 to 12 in London, suggested progress in the nation was nevertheless being made.
A case in point was a presentation by Angus Campbell, managing director of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), who discussed the UK LNG Marine Corridor project, which aims to assess the UK's potential LNG bunker demand as a precursor to developing the appropriate bunkering infrastructure.
The Schulte and Babcock-led study will cover ports spanning from the far North of Scotland's Orkney Islands, all the way to England's South Coast port of Southampton.
Campbell says basic principals have also been developed for a multi-purpose LNG bunkering vessel, which it is envisaged will not only provide LNG bunkers to ships, but will also operate as a cold ironing barge to provide at-berth power to other ships - presumably in a similar way to Becker Marine Systems' Hummel, which has been supplying LNG-generated power in the Port of Hamburg.
Also speaking at the conference was Andrew Stafford, technical director, Trelleborg Marine Systems UK, who discussed its SeaTechnik ship/shore links (SSLs).
In discussing the application of his company's products to LNG bunkering, Stafford highlighted the now familiar problem of entering these emerging markets, namely, the current lack of regulation for LNG bunkering means there are also no currently agreed standards for such products.
Beyond the scope of ship-shore interfaces, the UK has also seen a number of other recent LNG bunker related developments.
As Ship & Bunker reported earlier this year, Scottish ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) has placed an order for two dual-fuel ferries the will be able to run on both LNG and marine diesel, while last year Royal Dutch Shell Plc (Shell) announced plans to begin supplying LNG to SABIC-chartered vessels in Teesport, UK, via a temporary LNG bunkering facility.
