Costlier Fuels Post-2020 Could Lend Support to Methanol as Alternative Bunker Fuel

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday March 21, 2018

Chris Chatterton, chief operating oficer at the Methanol Institute, thinks that changes in the market come 2020 could benefit the development of methanol as an alternative bunker fuel.

Chatterton, who expressed his views in an opinion piece for maritime news website Splash 247, argues that uncertainty over price levels could play to methanol's advantage.

"The post-2020 era will be one of higher fuel prices, changes that make alternatives more attractive to owners planning for newbuildings in the next few years," Chatterton wrote.

"A sustained high price for low sulfur fuel oil or marine gasoil might be a boost to liquified natural gas but could also make methanol competitive as a marine fuel for new buildings and conversion in specific shipping sectors."

Shipping sectors identified by Chatterton include short sea shipping, ferries, inland waterways and workboats which he argues "are all potential markets for methanol".

And while he accepts that the alternative fuel "may not become the fuel of the masses by 2020", it could work across a broad category of vessels and particularly those spending a lot of time in emission control areas.

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Ship & Bunker News Team
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