Seven Companies Join Initiative Seeking to Solve LNG Bunkering's Methane Slip Problem

The organisation is initially being backed by seven LNG bunker industry participants including MSC and Shell. File Image / Pixabay

A new initiative backed by seven partners in the maritime industry is seeking to solve the methane slip problem associated with the use of LNG as a bunker fuel.

The Methane Abatement in Maritime (MAM) innovation initiative is a programme seeking to develop technologies to minimise the environmental impact of LNG in shipping, the organisation said in a statement on its website on Tuesday.

Methane slip is the release of unburned methane during the bunkering, storage and use of LNG as a bunker fuel. Methane has a much higher greenhouse impact than carbon dioxide, meaning its release into the atmosphere significantly worsens the environmental case for the use of LNG as marine fuel.

In the first year of the initiative, its members will seek to identify and pilot new technologies to monitor and reduce methane slip from LNG-fuelled ships. The organisation will then seek to bring these technologies into wider use in the industry from next year.

The initiative initially has seven partners: Maran Gas Maritime, MSC, Carnival Corporation, Seaspan, Shell, Lloyd's Register and Knutsen Group. The initiative will be chaired by Panagiotis Mitrou, global gas director at Lloyd's Register, and Steve Price, head of partnerships at Safetytech Accelerator.

"Shipping currently lacks the information and tools they need to accurately measure the amount of methane released by LNG-fuelled ships, and the extent of this impact," Price said in the statement.

"We believe that better information will allow the maritime industry to better understand the extent to which its LNG-fuelled ships are emitting methane.

"Understanding the extent of this methane slip will allow companies, society and policymakers to understand LNG's real environmental impact.

"Empowering markets to channel investments to new technologies that can reduce methane slip, or to other transition fuels."