Page 7 - AsiaElec Week 43

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec
underway since 2018.
MOL then said in September that the first
truck-to-ship bunkering operation had success- fully been carried out at the Port of Kobe, with the fuel being supplied to its Ishin tugboat.
The Japan Times reported this week that two consortia of private Japanese firms were pre- paring to launch the country’s first LNG bun- kering ships by the end of 2020. These ships are set to provide services in Tokyo Bay and Ise and Mikawa bays. The ship serving Ise and Mikawa bays will be used to fuel car-carriers that have been ordered by Toyota Motor Corp. to ship cars to the US.
This ship is being developed by a consortium that includes NYK, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line), JERA – a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Chubu Elec- tric Power – and Toyota Tsusho. The vessel is due to enter service in late 2020, and will have the capacity to store 1,500-1,600 tonnes of LNG, which is enough to fuel a round trip between North Asia and North America.
The general manager of JERA’s LNG bunker- ing unit, Akiko Tanba, told the Japan Times that once the vessel enters service, Ise and Mikawa bays will be the only region in Japan that allows three types of LNG bunkering – ship-to-ship, shore-to-ship and truck-to-ship.
The other vessel is being developed by a con- sortium led by Sumitomo. In addition, the Japa- nese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has put in an order for an LNG-powered working vessel, which is set to begin operations in March 2021.
A number of other initiatives are also
underway in the country as part of the bun- kering push. JERA is upgrading its Kawagoe gas-fired power plant in Mie Prefecture to allow shore-to-ship bunkering from LNG tanks. And at Tomakomai in Hokkaido the use of a portable LNG tank is being considered for bunkering.
What next?
Japanese efforts to establish more bunkering infrastructure are timely. Norway-based classi- fication society DNV-GL estimates that 6-11% of the global shipping fleet is set to shift to LNG by 2025.
Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell estimates that if 10% of current marine fuel oil consumption is substituted with LNG, this will create additional LNG demand of 30mn tonnes per year (tpy).
There are certain obstacles standing in the way of more widespread adoption of LNG bunkering, however. According to JERA’s Tanba, LNG-fuelled ships typically cost 20-30% more than conventional vessels, suggesting that the high investment cost may deter some ship-owners.
Indeed, the Japanese government is having to subsidise projects in order to spur demand for LNG bunkering.
In the longer term, there are additional chal- lenges as well. The IMO has set other guidelines, including a 50% cut in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vessels by 2050.
There are concerns that the impact of using LNG as fuel will only result in a more modest reduction in GHG emissions. In the longer run, shippers may have to look at alternatives such as hydrogen or biofuel.™
Week 43 29•October•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P7