On September 16, VT Halter Marine, Pascagoula, hosted a naming ceremony for US’s first LNG articulated tug/barge (ATB) unit. Q-LNG Transport LLC awarded had granted the contract to VT Halter Marine to build the ship in November 2017.
The barge will be named Q-LNG 4000 and the tug, Q-Ocean Service. The ATB is planned to be delivered during the in the first quarter of 2020, operating for a 15-year contract for Shell Trading (U.S.) Co. It will be delivering LNG fuel to several ports in Florida and the Caribbean.
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What is more, the ATB will bunker Carnival Cruise Line’s two new dual-fuel ships, as well as two dual-fuel Siem Car Carrier’s pure car/truck carriers, that the Volkswagon Group has chartered to transport vehicles from Europe to North America.
Q-LNG 4000 and Q-Ocean Service aim to provide LNG ship-to-ship transfers to ships with use LNG as a fuel, while also conducting ship-to-shore transfers to small scale marine distribution infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico and abroad.
Recently, SEA\LNG published the results of a new alternative fuels study, finding that LNG is the most mature, scalable, and commercially viable alternative fuel currently available for the maritime industry. The study was conducted by DNV GL.
The study concluded that while there are several lower or zero carbon alternative fuels that could assist in complying with IMO 2030 and 2050 GHG reduction targets, many of these alternatives require significant development to meet the industry’s needs.
The study reports that many promising alternative fuels currently do not have the regulatory framework, production capability and bunkering infrastructure for broader adoption, and they are also more expensive than traditional bunkers or LNG.
As a result, during a period where the industry is feeling pressure to cut GHG and other emissions to air, LNG could help move the industry forward, while also laying the ground work for lower or carbon neutral fuels produced from renewable or zero-carbon energy.