Asia/Pacific News
Too Many "Black Holes" in LNG Bunker Port Map For Widespread Adoption
There are still too many so-called "black holes" in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker market for widespread adoption of the alternative marine fuel, says Singapore-based consultancy TRI-ZEN.
According to Tri-Zen analysts, shippers now recognise the importance and "imminence" of the need to substitute oil as their primary propulsion fuel, but there are still too few actual and existing LNG bunker ports.
As the report notes shippers need to have the confidence that they can find LNG bunkers within a reasonable range of where their vessels travel.
Tri-Zen analysts suggest that "we are certainly not there yet and more needs to be done urgently" in terms of building out LNG bunker infrastructure.
The report identifies the current and existing LNG bunker "black holes", which are regions of the globe with no obvious planned activity.
According to Tri-Zen these places include the following:
- South America (excluding the Buquebus' facility in Buenos Aires).
- Africa.
- The Mediterranean.
- Arabia and the Gulf.
- South Asia.
- East and South East Asia, excluding China, Hong Kong and Singapore.
- Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
According to the report these "black holes" are still so large as to prevent an LNG powered ocean going fleet from being "viable."
In May of 2015 Ship & Bunker reported that, according to a Tri-Zen report, of the world's 8,000 seaports, just 15 had LNG bunkers available and that 46 ports were "hopefuls" in terms of making LNG available.
