2nd Gas Fuelled Ships conference a great success!
A full attendance at the second Motorship Gas Fuelled Ships conference
The Motorship’s second Gas Fuelled Ships conference, held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, ended on a high note on 27 October.
Chairman John Aitken, secretary general of SEAaT, pronounced the two-day event a great success and a full attendance – all available places at the conference were sold – listened to some 23 presentations in seven distinct sessions. The speakers examined various technical, regulatory, economic, practical and safety-related issues concerned with the use of gas as a fuel for ships. Although LNG was the focus of most of the papers, presented by prominent figures from shipping, supplier, consultant, and design companies, as well as academic bodies and class societies, some touched on alternative gaseous fuels that could lend themselves to ship power, such as bio-derived methane fuelled engines that could supplement modern sail power.
The chairman’s closing remarks complemented the speakers on the high overall standard of the presentations. Aitken felt that considerable progress had been made in the industry since the first Motorship Gas Fuelled Ships conference a year ago, but there are still problems to be faced and questions to be answered. The industry must, he said, recognise this and we must not be blinded by the enthusiasm for LNG. Gas fuel is, after all, one of several solutions to IMO Tier III and other future emissions limitations, and is not a universal answer to every operator’s needs.
If there was any single new, important, point that came out of the conference, John Aitken felt it was from the final session, about bunkering and refuelling. There is an obvious mismatch between the large-scale operations of the LNG suppliers and the much smaller-scale bunkering operators. However, gas fuel for ships is, unlike many other maritime topics, an exciting and emerging technology. It is very encouraging that things are reaching fruition, with ships sailing using gas as fuel and with various types of gas-fuelled engines – including the large two-strokes that are the lifeblood of the shipping industry – available to order.
The other clear messages were, said Aitken, that shipping is starting to take gas fuels seriously, and that further developments are being driven by price and availability.
