LNG Fuelled Ships - Why No Med?

[sweep2907]

Thought this would be useful if anyone missed the reason for why ships are turning to LNG fuel and why IONA for example is starting off with short cruises not in the Med. I am sure with more and more ships coming along needing LNG, this issue will be sorted out sooner rather than later.

 

There are about a dozen LNG cruise ships to be deployed in the Mediterranean over the next four years, beginning with the Aidanova, ordered by the Carnival group, with a 5,200-passenger capacity and a price tag of 950 million dollars, and expected in November. Italy and the Mediterranean, however, are not yet prepared for the change.

 

 

Of the three regasification terminals in Italy (two offshore ones, Adriatic LNG and FSRU Toscana, and one at Panigaglia, next to La Spezia) not one offers LNG supply services for ships. “We have to bridge this infrastructure gap and create a coastal storage network,”

 

The timing is also dictated by new international standards. By 2020, the UN’s marine safeguard agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), will impose regulations that limit sulphur content from ship exhaust to 0.5%, a target that is currently achievable using either catalysts (scrubbers), or burning low sulphur content fuel, which is expensive and in short supply, or by using LNG.

 

To scoop up some that market, the British territory of Gibraltar is in the process of launching an LNG-fuelled power station whose accompanying storage tanks will also be able to be used to refuel cargo ships via barges.

Gibraltar already supplies the most marine fuel of any port in the Mediterranean and aims to do the same with LNG, said Manuel Tirado, chief executive of the Gibraltar Port Authority.

“The GPA’s aim is to be the number one LNG bunker port in the Med, however, this is something that will not happen overnight,”

[Slugsta]

Thanks for posting this, it is interesting to learn the reason for Iona's very limited itinerary. OH was keen to try her but I'm not really interested in another Norwegian fjords trip.

[terrierjohn]

According to her summer 2019 schedule Aidanova will operate 7 night itineraries between Barcelona and Rome, so I assume these ports will have LNG refueling facilities.

[molecrochip]

According to her summer 2019 schedule Aidanova will operate 7 night itineraries between Barcelona and Rome, so I assume these ports will have LNG refueling facilities.

Yes, together with Southampton and Rotterdam. I think also Hamburg.