Americas News
Great Lakes Shipping Company to Convert First Ship to LNG
The M/V Mesabi Miner will be the first ship in the Great Lakes shipper Interlake Steamship Company (Interlake)'s fleet capable of running on liquefied natural gas (LNG), but the conversion will not be complete until 2016, local newspaper the Duluth News Tribune reports.
The 1,004-foot-long, 105-foot-wide vessel, built in 1977, will be fitted with twin Caterpillar engines capable of operating on diesel or LNG and four cryogenic storage tanks with a capacity of 52,800 gallons each.
The company had planned to convert its first ship by the spring of 2015, but it has pushed the date back by at least a year.
"[U]ntil we get all the ducks in a line, it's not done…" said Interlake President Mark Barker.
"A lot of this is new."
Barker said the company is talking to shipyards in the Great Lakes area about converting the ship but did not reveal the cost of the conversion.
Interlake said earlier this year that Shell will be the exclusive supplier of LNG for its ships, and the energy company is planning a small-scale liquefaction unit for Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year of the fuel.
