Motorship’s third annual
Gas Fuelled Ships Conference took place in Bergen,
Norway, last week, with many involved in the industry anxious to explore this powering option.
Well in excess of 140 people heard a variety of presentations at the event. The opening reception, hosted by
Rolls-Royce at its nearby Bergen engine plant, included a tour of the factory, where gas engines are built alongside diesel-fuelled units.
Conference chairman
Martin Shaw, former
BP Marine engineer and vice-president responsible for technical and environmental matters, and now managing director of consultancy
Marine Operations and Assurance Management Solutions (MOAMS), introduced
Kjell Sandaker, of shipowner
Eidesvik Offshore, who gave the keynote address.
The first session dealt with regulatory matters, beginning with
Turid Stemre of the
Norwegian Maritime Authority, who is currently coordinating work on the IMO’s IGF Code.
Erik Skramstad of
DNV explained the work he is carrying out chairing the ISO working group developing bunkering guidelines for ships.
Shell's technologist
Ong Lay Hwa gave a comprehensive outline of predictions of future marine fuel demand, which included LNG in a strong position alongside MGO and the HFO/scrubber combination.
David Bull from
Ocean Shipping Consultants looked at the market conditions and applications for LNG in the general commercial marketplace, seeing how the higher capital and operating cost, and reduced cargo capacity of gas-fuelled ships can be offset by lower fuel costs and potential faster trading speed resulting in increased overall capacity.
Kjell Sandaker returned to the rostrum to discuss his experiences with dual-fuel engines in the Eidesvik fleet, while the session’s other speaker,
Roar Skjeret, spoke about the pure-gas, supplemented by separate smaller diesel engines, chosen by
Island Offshore.
The third session looked at the environment, concentrating on legislation, availability and cost of gas fuels, led by
Aksel Skjervheim of Gasnor, and followed by
ABS’s
Sean Bond, speaking on the North American perspective.
Jesper Aagesen presented
Lloyd’s Register’s study into worldwide LNG bunkering infrastructure.
Finn Engelsen of shipbroker
Joachim Grieg presented another study, on the commercial considerations of LNG fuel.
Eivind Dale of
DNV proNavis looked at the factors driving the growth of LNG ship fuel and explained the DNV decision support model.
Juergen Harperscheidt of
TGE looked at the whole supply chain, starting with the current generation of small LNG tankers, concluding that LNG is bound to grow in the next few years. Then
David Edwards of
SeaTechnik looked at systems for small-scale LNG bunkering and supply.
Source: Motorship
