Natural Gas–Burning Megaships Soon to Leave Port

U.S.-based TOTE, Inc., one of America?s shipping giants, is betting on liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the fuel of the future for the marine shipping industry. The company just announced plans to build the first container ships to use LNG as a "primary" fuel source, partnering with San Diego?based ship builder General Dynamics NASSCO to complete two of these containerships in 2015 and 2016.

TOTE, owned by Saltchuk Resources, Inc., of Seattle, plans to use the 764-foot-long vessels?which will become the largest LNG-powered ships of any type in the world?in its Puerto Rican trade routes. The firm says a gas-powered ship will reduce emissions of particulate matter by 99 percent, sulfur oxides by 98 percent, and nitrogen oxides by 91 percent compared with a diesel counterpart. TOTE?s two Washington-to-Alaska ships are only nine years old and the company announced in August plans to outfit the 839-foot Orca-class vessels with new LNG-capable engines as well.

"For us, the reason, first and foremost, is environmental," Anthony Chiarello, president and CEO of TOTE, tells Popular Mechanics. "Having an environmentally friendly solution was the driver from the beginning."

TOTE runs ships from Florida to Puerto Rico and from Washington to Alaska, both routes ripe with eco zones. And with six ships in their fleet, including two steamships nearing 90 years old and in need of replacing no later than 2019, it was time to investigate shipbuilding options. Stricter regulations for clean air in sensitive coastal regions, dubbed "emission control areas," require that the amount of sulfur in fuel must drop from 3.5 percent (the rule before August 2012) down to 0.5 percent in 2020.

LNG fuel may be the most cost-effective way to reach that mark. While TOTE isn?t giving out exact financial details other than saying the "total capital committed to the project is over $350 million," Chiarello says he expects to pay about a 10 percent premium to build the largest LNG-powered vessels in the world compared with building a diesel-powered ship.

If fuel prices hold?TOTE?s projections are that LNG will remain cheaper than ordinary diesel "bunker fuel" in the years to come?savings can be found there too. The potential problem is difficulty in finding the fuel, which could wipe out cost advantages, the company says.

"There is (LNG) fuel and it is very abundant in the North American market, but making sure we have availability, whether through a bunker-barge system or direct from liquefaction plants at or near port facilities, we need to make sure we have that in place," Chiarello says. Already, though, in the last week he has fielded more than a dozen calls from suppliers offering to get their fuel to Jacksonville, Fla., Puerto Rico, the Pacific Northwest, or anywhere TOTE needs it. With the world?s largest ferry fleet (Washington State?s) considering converting its vessels to LNG, Chiarello says partnering options could potentially bring down the delivery price for everyone.

Alistair Hull, technical manager for the London-based International Chamber of Shipping association, says LNG-powered ships are currently a "small but growing sector." Hull says that the availability of reliable supplies of LNG at specific ports and equipped fuel-supply terminals will become the main factor driving how quickly this sector can grow.

To navigate this transition time, TOTE?s new LNG ships will actually be hybrids. They?ll be able to run up to 4000 nautical miles on LNG, but will still have the capability to switch to bunker fuel and increase their range another 10,000 nautical miles. The idea is for bunker fuel to be an emergency option only?the ships will run on natural gas whenever possible.

Another potential hang-up for LNG is carrying all the fuel; LNG weighs more and takes up more space than an equivalent amount of diesel. The farther you want to travel, the larger fuel tank you need, and a large fuel tank cuts into the space otherwise used for moneymaking freight. TOTE engineers, currently working in the final design phase for the LNG ships, are working to make room for the LNG fuel storage. At the stern of the vessel, underneath the containers directly after the deckhouse, the above-deck storage will get encased in a steel structure to allow for containers to load above it. Besides a few extra fuel-piping requirements, there?s nothing else major in the construction change.

"With the tankage much smaller (on a domestic vessel), it doesn?t impact loadability from a cargo perspective," Chiarello says. "I think over time as the technology develops and they come up with other tankage solutions it will be less impactful on the cargo portion." Besides, he says, by replacing aging ships, TOTE will accommodate five times as many 53-foot containers as it currently does, allowing the company to carry more cars, corn syrup, refrigerated pharmaceuticals, and everything else, just because the new ships are so much longer than the old ones.

The first TOTE ship should slide into the water by late 2015. The second ship is expected in the first quarter of 2016, and TOTE has the option to add three more.

"The engine technology is already out there and the technology is working," Chiarello says. "If you look at ferry systems and smaller, feeder-type vessels in Europe, LNG is a primary source in many cases."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/extreme-machines/natural-gas-burning-megaships-soon-to-leave-port-14858070?src=rss

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