zoomImage Courtesy: Siemens

Germany’s Siemens Drilling and Marine, Dresser-Rand business and Lloyd’s Register joined forced to make LNG widely available to US ship owners seeking to use natural gas as a propulsion fuel, meeting tough Sulfur (SOx) and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emission-reduction requirements – whether regionally or globally.

The collaboration is expected to remove obstacles that can hold back wide-spread adoption of natural gas as the marine fuel of choice by providing an end-to-end solution encompassing the entire supply chain from natural gas procurement to liquefaction and delivery of LNG to new-building or retrofitting.

“In putting together this team of leaders in the marine and LNG space, our integrated solution, encompassing the entire supply chain of LNG including gas-fueled marine propulsion systems, will remove the chicken-and-egg hurdle from the LNG-equation. This is a disruptive concept for the maritime industry, and the technology exists for immediate adoption. This joint solution is not limited geographically, and we stand ready to support the marine industry globally, although our initial focus is on deploying U.S. shale gas,” David Grucza, Siemens Drilling and Marine, said.

The initial end-to-end solution offered to the North American inland and coastal waterways community comprises the following elements:

- Land-based and/or floating, LNGo™-liquefaction barge;
- LNG bunkering barge (C-Type tanks with up to 2,500 m3 capacity); and
- 4,200 or higher horsepower river Pushboat.

According to Lloyd’s Register, there are approximately 40-50 LNG-fueled vessels globally, but strong growth is predicted. Much of this proposed growth is driven by increased emissions regulations, including stringent EPA compliance requirements for ship owners operating across the North American Emissions Control Area.