Cruise Sector Makes Another $1 Billion Bet on LNG, But Concern Lingers On Bunkering Infrastructure

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday June 18, 2018

The cruise sector has continued to back liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkers despite concerns over a lack of bunkering infrastructure.

MSC Cruises last week said it added another vessel to its order from last year to make it a total of five LNG-powered ships it has on order.

The agreement for the additional Meraviglia-Plus ship represents an additional investment of €900 million ($1.04 billion).

But in a just released Sustainability Report from Costa Cruises, the Carnival subsidiary said there was plenty of work to be done on the LNG bunkering side if demand for the alternative fuel will be met.

"According to a CLIA study, 27% of new builds are committed to using LNG as the primary fuel for propulsion. While natural gas appears to be the way forward for cruise lines, LNG supply and bunkering infrastructure is ill-prepared to deal with the growth in demand: there are only 22 ports in the world equipped with the necessary alternative fuel infrastructure, and they are concentrated in north-west Europe (especially the Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium) and the US Gulf and East coast,"

"In the next few years it will be necessary to drive the change needed by lobbying the main ports so as to agree on mutually acceptable solutions guaranteeing the development of the port infrastructure required to handle next-generation ships."

Carnival made a multi-billion dollar backing for LNG bunkers back in 2015, with Carnival's Roger Frizzell telling Ship & Bunker at the time that early adopters can help drive forward the development of appropriate bunkering infrastructure.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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