Americas News
Carnival's US LNG Bunkering Needs Still Under Assessment
Carnival Corporation & plc (Carnival) has not yet settled on a fuel supplier for the company's liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered newbuilds, which are set to be deployed on the U.S. market, Tom Strang, senior vice-president maritime affairs at Carnival has told TradeWinds.
"We are trying to understand what the [U.S.] market will look like," said Strang to attendees of the recent IQPC LNG Bunkering Summit, adding: "we need to look at the Jones Act and Caribbean [LNG] supply."
For the record, Carnival has previously told Ship & Bunker that it is undeterred by a lack of LNG bunkering infrastructure at the company's traditional ports of call.
A number of LNG suppliers have been "coming to the table," said Strang, also noting that the company's new vessels are likely to require a dedicated bunkering vessel to meet the fleet's needs.
Each of Carnival's seven LNG-powered newbuildings are set to be fitted with three Type-C LNG fuel tanks, with tank capacity said to be based on a bi-weekly bunkering schedule within standard port calls, leaving a maximum of approximately six hours for bunkering operations, with each vessel requiring about 30,000 tonnes of LNG each year.
Strang says that, in order to support the adoption of LNG as marine fuel, increased cooperation is needed between LNG bunker suppliers and consumers, while port authorities need to standardise LNG bunkering procedures.
"We need aggregation," said Strang, adding: "we need to work together."
Last month, Ship & Bunker reported that SEA\LNG, a cross-industry coalition of which Carnival is a member, said a collaborative approach is "crucial" to encouraging the adoption of LNG as an alternative to traditional bunkers.
