Black Diamond Award Finalists to Be Recognized at World LNG Fuels Conference

The five Black Diamond Award Finalists to be recognized at the World LNG Fuels conference are:

1. UPS’s LNG-fueled U.S. highway truck fleet rollout,
2. Canadian National Railway’s LNG-fueled locomotive demonstrations,
3. Omya’s Vermont LNG-fueled quarry and calcium-carbonate operations,
4. Buquebus’ LNG-fueled fast ferry Francisco, and
5. Noble Energy’s DJ Basin, Colo. LNG fuel network

Each of these projects is recognized as having achieved the highest standards across four criteria:

• technological innovation,
• project execution,
• market impact and
• risk taken.

John Hatley VP, Wärtsilä North America; Ray Latchem, CEO, Spectrum LNG; Kevin Beaty, VP, CALSTART; Koby Knight, VP, Clean Energy Fuels; and Miguel Raimao, principal, Resonance Mode comprise the panel of judges. Each of the projects will be represented at the conference.

“We’re especially pleased such representatives as Juan Carlos Lopez Mena, owner of Buquebus, one of South America’s leading transportation companies, will attend the conference,” said Bob Nimocks, chairman of the World LNG Fuels program committee. “These projects are viewed as game changers for their sponsors. In many instances, the highest levels of management are involved in the closest details.”

Buquebus, for example, set a world speed record for a commercial ship with its LNG-fueled Francisco, a high-speed catamaran. With the water ballast removed and both port and starboard turbines operating on LNG, the 324-foot (99-meter) vessel achieved 58.1 knots (67 miles/hour or 108 km/hour) at 100% maximum continuous rating.

Currently, the ship transports up to 1,000 passengers and 150 cars between Montevideo, Uruguay, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, at cruising speeds around 50 knots. Buquebus is building state-of-the-art liquefiers to supply LNG throughout South America.

[mappress]
LNG World News Staff, December 11, 2013; Image: Incat