The New Gas Market: Shipowners Needing Cleaner Fuel

Some years ago I read that if all the worlds marine traffic turned over to LNG as a fuel in a day (for the sake of the argument), then we would need double to amount of LNG currently being produced on earth. That’s, of course, a game in the sandbox but it shows the size of the duckling.

The global shipping industry could become a new market for liquefied natural gas, thanks to a drastic change in maritime law that aims to curb air pollution. Major cruise liners and the world’s biggest freight companies have ordered 125 new LNG-powered vessels and another 119 are already in operation, according to current figures from maritime consultancy DNV GL. That is partly because new regulations taking effect in 2020 will reduce the maximum amount of sulfur permitted in the oil used by ships from 3.5% to 0.5%.

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