NEWS/EVENTS
News Articles
July 8, 2011
WPCI LNG-Fueled Vessels Program Theme Launched
During the IAPH World Ports Conference held in Busan, Korea in May 2011, IAPH agreed upon a new WPCI-project; LNG-fuelled vessels. The goal of this new project theme is to develop guidelines and/or assess the possible impact at ports with regard to infrastructure, safety requirements for bunkering and the legal aspects of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative fuel to conventional fuels for ships.
LNG is of interest to both ship operators and ports because it reduces or eliminates many of the emissions targeted by current and future IMO measures to make shipping cleaner. For example, LNG eliminates entirely sulphur emissions and particulate matter emissions are close to zero. Furthermore, LNG has been reported to reduce NOx by 80-90% and CO2 emissions by 26%.
During the meeting of the Port Environmental Committee of the IAPH, Henri van der Weide, Policy Advisor for Safety, Security & Environment at the Port of Amsterdam stressed that “the more vessels that use LNG, the cleaner the air in the port; and cleaner local air quality means a license to grow. Ports must respond to the trend to switch to LNG or possibly risk losing ships in the future.”
The technical session in Busan looked at some of the practical issues of introducing LNG bunkering at ports, such as what infrastructure was needed and how supplies of LNG would reach the port. Above all, ports need to have good safety procedures in place. One of the further issues that the LNG project team will discuss going forward would be international guidelines for safety procedures and training for crews and other operatives handling LNG during bunkering. Currently there are no standards available, only local guidelines, so the project aims at tackling these questions at international level.
Many ports already expressed their interest in taking part in this project, to be prepared for the future. Furthermore, the industry is invited to take part in the project team, to work together with the ports on developing a practical set of workable guidelines at the 3 mentioned subjects.
From this moment on, the project team will be established under the coordination of the director of the WPCI. More information on the LNG-Fueled Vessels theme can be found at the WPCI website, by clicking HERE.