The global shipping industry faces a challenge a-new legislation will significantly limit sulfur emissions from ships, firstly in North America and northern Europe in 2015. LNG is a potential solution for meeting these requirements - it has virtually no sulfur content, and its combustion produces low NOx compared to fuel oil and marine diesel oil. LNG is not only cleaner-burning, but may have economic advantages - on a calorific value basis even high Asian LNG prices are lower than global bunker fuel prices. As a result there have been recent developments to promote use of LNG as a bunker fuel. The scope for displacement of bunker fuel oil by LNG is potentially huge - excluding LNG carriers there are currently only 20 - 25 LNG-fuelled vessels in operation - less than 1% of the total commercial marine fleet. However, LNG as a bunker fuel faces a number of challenges; notably the investment required in ships propulsion and fuel handling systems and in bunkering facilities, plus development of new international safety regulations, and LNG availability. Given the potential advantages of LNG as a bunker fuel and the pace of recent developments, the probability of LNG displacing oil as the preferred fuel will continue to increase. However, given the challenges faced, to what extent can LNG as a bunker fuel develop by the end of decade? This paper will discuss the advantages of LNG as a bunker fuel, challenges faced for widespread implementation, and the pace and potential for LNG to displace established fuels.
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