LNG Bunkers Dominate as Over 7% of Global Tonnage Now Dual-Fuel Capable

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday January 1, 2025

LNG is dominating the alternative marine fuel landscape, according to a report this week by asset management and advisory services firm Breakwave Advisors LLC.

Citing data from Greek maritime services firm Intermodal, Breakwave notes that the number of duel-fuel capable ships has risen substantially since 2018 standing today at 2,119 vessels.

This represents a combined capacity of 123 million gross tonnes (GT), or 7.4% of the global fleet by gross tonnage - a marked increase on the 3.2% recorded in 2018.

As highlighted in an earlier analysis by Ship & Bunker, knowing the combined GT of alternatively-fuelled ships is essential to understanding what the resulting bunker demand will be for those alternative fuels.

Larger vessels simply consume more fuel, and by exactly how much is revelled in official IMO fuel consumption data.

Notably, 84% of today's alternatively fuelled tonnage is LNG dual-fuel, comprising 1,248 ships with a total capacity of 102.93 million GT.

In 2023 methanol grabbed all the headlines as that year it was the most popular choice for alternatively fuelled contracts.

But as subsequent analysis by Ship & Bunker showed, once ship size was taken into account, LNG was in fact the dominant fuel in terms of new demand.

With order book data showing 2024 was a banner year for orders of LNG-fuelled tonnage, gas-powered propulsion continues to tighten its grip on the global orderbook.

There are currently 1,821 duel-fuel ships in the orderbook representing a combined capacity of 143 million gt.

Of those, 1,042 units, an impressive 103.74 million GT / 72.5%, are LNG capable.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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