Americas News
LNG Ship Plans Growing in U.S.
The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) and Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) say LNG fuelled ships are one clear solution to both environmental and financial issues, GPA said in a press release.
The comments came as a number of logistics industry leaders discussed plans for new LNG-powered vessels and other environmentally friendly shipping innovations at the 2013 Georgia Foreign Trade Conference (GFTC).
TOTE President and CEO Anthony Chiarello said the company, which is building two 3,100 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) LNG-powered container ships for East Coast to Puerto Rico trade and converting existing vesels to LNG bunkers for its Pacific Northwest to Anchorage Alaska route, can reduce bunker costs by 40 percent with the fuel switch while also reducing emissions.
"When you can cut your sulfur burn by 99 percent vs. what it would be with bunker fuel, for us, it becomes a classic no-brainer," he said.
Chiarello said it is starting the use of LNG-powered ships with point-to-point routes to make it easier to establish refueling stations.
General Dynamics NASSCO, which is building the new vessels for TOTE, has said they will be the world's first LNG-powered containerships and the largest ships in the world to be primarily LNG powered.
The GPA itself is also considering using LNG- or compressed natural gas (CNG)-fuel, according to Executive Director Curtis Foltz.
"We operate 200-plus marine tractors every day inside the port complex," he said.
"I would suspect in the next two to four years, the vast majority of those will be operating on an alternative fuel other than diesel."
The GPA is also making other efforts to become more environmentally friendly, including using electric ship-to-shore cranes and refrigerated container racks at the Port of Savannah, changes that reduce the use of diesel by 5.8 million gallons per year.
