Wallenius Marine and LNG GOT Set Sights on Reducing Shipping Emissions (Sweden)

Wallenius Marine AB and LNG GOT AB have entered a strategic partnership to examine possibilities for using liquid natural gas (LNG) as a shipping fuel in existing and newly built vessels in the Wallenius fleet.

The study is intended to show how LNG can be used as a fuel in a manner that is economically, environmentally, publicly and commercially appealing.

“We have been using fuel that is significantly cleaner than required for some time, but it is far from being as clean as we would wish.

The use of LNG as a shipping fuel will take us a step closer to our vision of having emission-free vessels. We see LNG as a stepping stone to running ships on biogas in the future,” says Per Tunell, Head of Environmental Management,Wallenius Marine.

The initiative begins immediately, with the aim that the study should be completed in 2011.

The project will also examine the consequences of adapting the Wallenius’ fleet to LNG operation, as well as the supply and distribution possibilities for LNG.

“It is the long-term goal of LNG GOT to minimise the environmental impact of shipping by making LNG available as a shipping fuel.

This agreement marks a significant further step towards this objective. The partnership benefits all parties involved as well as the development of Gothenburg as an energy port,” comments Magnus Witting, CEO of LNG GOT. LNG is an attractive fuel for shipping from both technical and environmental viewpoints.

In 2015 stricter emission requirements will come into effect in Emission Control Areas (ECAs), with the effect that sulphur emissions must not exceed expected levels for fuel with a maximum sulphur content of 0.1 per cent.

Apart from the fact that LNG is effectively sulphur-free and therefore complies with the forthcoming emission restrictions, LNG operation will also reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by up to 85–90 per cent, particulates by almost 100 per cent and carbon dioxide by around 20–25 per cent in comparison with running on heavy fuel oil.

These major environmental benefits also provide a good margin as stiffer emission controls are introduced.

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Source: Wallenius Marine, September 1, 2010;