Asian ECAs may drive up LNG demand

01 Oct 2012

LNG fuelled ship bunkering from a small LNG tanker (picture: Kogas)

LNG as bunker fuel is becoming more than just talk in Asia: Wendy Laursen looks at developments in Singapore and other Asian ports, where sulphur limits are likely to make gas fuelled ships a ‘2020 vision’.

As the world’s largest marine fuel bunkering port, proponents of LNG bunkers believe it is strategically important for Singapore to offer LNG bunkering in the near future if it wants to stay in the game. Given that the global SOx cap of 0.5% is not due until 2020 (subject to review in 2018), it is the designation and location of more Emission Control Areas (ECAs) that might set the timetable for action, as the amount of time a vessel spends in ECAs features strongly in the financial case for burning LNG as bunker rather than low sulphur diesel. The oil industry has expressed no interest in refining heavy fuel oil to provide a lower sulphur content in order to meet the 2020 market.

There is talk within the industry of an ECA being established in the Strait of Malacca but this would have a big impact on world trade and Singapore may not get the required support from Indonesia or Malaysia to implement it. Rumours abound about a Japanese ECA too despite past resistance from Japanese shipowners. The Pearl River delta including Hong Kong is another possibility being discussed and some see Korea, Australia and New Zealand as potential ECA candidates. China has already started with a process of emissions caps and the introduction of LNG bunkering in the Yangtze River.

Captain Rohit Bhatia, managing director of Wade Maritime Consultants in India, agrees that development of the required regulatory schemes will be important. “The ports providing LNG bunkering facilities will do so in partnership with third parties or bunker suppliers. Maritime regulators like the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the Directorate General of Shipping in India would have to develop regulations for both shore-based and ship-to-ship bunkering. In countries like India, customs rules are very archaic and wrapped around with a lot of red tape. This is one of the reasons why India has not grown as a bunkering destination.”

Captain Bhatia’s predictions for the first major LNG bunkering hubs are: Singapore, Hong Kong, Busan, Tokyo Bay and Shanghai. Key challenges will be the introduction of local regulations, the cost of conversion, the availability of tank space on board existing ships and the price of LNG compared to heavy fuel oil, but, even more importantly, Captain Bhatia sees the development of efficient logistics and the exportable surplus of LNG around the world as crucial to the fuel’s future potential. Currently, Singapore is the most advanced Asian country in this endeavour, he says, and like Europe and North America, he believes the designation of more ECAs will play an important role in generating demand for LNG. “LNG bunkering in Asia is likely to be a 2020 vision.”

Singapore has been the first Asian country to take definite action on international LNG bunkering for ocean going vessels. A joint industry project was established earlier this year to investigate the operational feasibility of LNG bunkering in Singapore and Captain M. Segar, group director of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, described the country’s ability to bunker LNG as in line with its commitment to clean and green shipping. “Singapore is taking it very seriously,” says Tim Wilkins, Singapore-based environmental manager for Intertanko. “The Norwegians have been pushing it and we’ve got some key owners and operators in this area involved both in production and in transporting LNG around.” I. M Skaugen’s Norgas Carriers, for example, has a strong presence in Singapore.

In Asia, LNG is three times the price charged in the US and twice that in Europe, but it is the price advantage of LNG over low sulphur diesel fuels that is really the market to watch, says James Ashworth, lead consultant for Singapore-based business consultancy TRI-ZEN, as it is the only qualifying fuel alternative to LNG outside nuclear to achieve the required sulphur levels post 2020.

Significant investment has been made in LNG infrastructure for land-based applications in Asia, but financing has been traditionally secured against long term supply contracts with gas distributors or power generators. “The market for LNG bunkers will be less predictable and thus more challenging as a basis for investment security. While the means exist for larger players to establish facilities and initiate a market, it could prove difficult for smaller players to secure financing until the LNG bunker market becomes established and understood,” Mr Ashworth says.

Without immediate demand from shipping, Asian ports are not yet investing in LNG infrastructure. “It might take somebody like Maersk to team up with a big storage company such as Vitol. They could then afford to install strategic bunker stations around the world to service the main liner routes,” says Mr Ashworth.

“There are technical challenges associated with LNG bunkering, but these are all well known and understood. What is less well understood and even less defined are the rules and protocols needed for custody transfer of LNG,” he says. The complete avoidance of methane venting to the atmosphere during fuelling operations is imperative and this means that bunker barges will probably require sophisticated reliquefaction equipment or at least pressurised storage tanks dedicated to the management of excess boil off gas.

  Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2013. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.

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Executive in Action: Capt. Rohit Bhatia, Managing Director, Wade Maritime Consultants Pvt Ltd

Maritime Executive   Monday, November 19, 2012

Executive in Action: Captain Rohit Bhatia, Managing Director, Wade Maritime Consultants Pvt Ltd

 

By Wendy Laursen

India is changing, growing and shifting its weight in anticipation of greater maritime independence as a result of much-needed port and terminal development. The country doesn’t yet have a fully functional transhipment hub, so international container traffic must first call at hubs in Sri Lanka, Singapore or Dubai. Strict cabotage rules restrict subsequent coastal container shipping to Indian-flagged and crewed vessels. Red tape abounds amongst regional jurisdictions.

Many of the older Indian ports are shallow and congested, limiting the country’s growth potential. A vessel can wait outside port for considerable time, and at Chennai it can take trucks a full day to cover the last 10 km of their journey as they enter the port.

But change is underway, and in the midst of it is Captain Rohit Bhatia, Managing Director and Founder of Wade Maritime Consultants. As a specialist with over 25 years of experience in shipping operations, business strategy and maritime economics, he has worked on numerous projects involving operational risk management, loss prevention, benchmarking, strategic investment advice and regulatory compliance.

One of his company’s specialties is business strategy and risk assessment for ports and terminals: “How do we get coastal shipping and the infrastructure for ports and terminals revived in India?” It is a challenge that Bhatia works through with individual clients and also as part of industry-wide initiatives. Clients include AET Shipmanagement, Maersk Tankers, MPN, Reliance Industries, Mundra & JNPT Port, MISC Berhad and others.

Traditionally, the largest ports have been on the west coast, but they are up to six days farther away than the east coast from China, Japan and Singapore, where much of India’s construction and consumer goods are coming from. India’s ‘Look East Policy’ will help grow east coast volumes exponentially with many eastern ports projecting double-digit growth rates. Bhatia is working on business strategies with a number of developers there.

Building the Infrastructure

“Infrastructure is the biggest hurdle to the growth story in India. Whatever the demand is for trade, if the infrastructure is not to the required level or there is a need for investment in it, then everything falls flat. And that’s what has been happening in the last few years, particularly with the government not taking policy decisions to get the right investment.”

The biggest push for the eastern ports is going to be commodities – the export of iron ore and the import of coal for utilities because most of the mining areas in India are on the eastern side, explains Bhatia. However, container trade will be important too. Industrialization is growing as a result of companies such as Nissan and Toyota setting up manufacturing plants, mainly on the east coast. A lot of the associated cargoes are containerized, and this raises the need for more accessibility to coastal shipping.

A hub port is being built at Vallarpadam, Cochin, so that it is India, rather than neighboring countries, that will benefit from the transhipment volume growth. Bhatia is working with shipping companies and other stakeholders to determine the best strategy for building up India’s coastal shipping industry to support hub ports. Financial incentives and a relaxation of cabotage rules for trans-shipment are likely.

Wade Maritime Consultants has added more associates in the UK, who are highly experienced in the port and terminal advisory business. “They are now part of our team, so we have a very strong and experienced group for consulting in ports and terminals, whether it is feasibility studies, benchmarking, due diligence, business strategy or training.”

On the legal side, Bhatia has recently established the Indian Maritime Arbitration Association, modelled on the UK equivalent and offering both international and Indian arbitration at around a third of the price of overseas options. The organization will also allow more modest disputes to be resolved without the need for those involved to travel to London.

Bhatia used his at-sea experience to initially offer technical and operational management services. He continues to do so, but the company has grown and shifted focus to match India’s changing business environment. “We have our four verticals well established now that allow us to service any maritime-related organization – shipowner/manager, charterer, trader, shipper, port or terminal. They can come to us for business strategy and design, risk management, training or legal services. The growth of the maritime industry here in India will certainly increase our country’s visibility and importance to global trade.” – MarEx

Wendy Laursen can be reached at wlaursen@bigpond.com for comments.

ICS Seeks Crucial Changes to IMO Ballast Water Regime in Effort to Avoid Chaos

ICS Seeks Crucial Changes to IMO Ballast Water Regime in Effort to Avoid Chaos

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents all sectors and trades and over 80% of the world merchant fleet, has called on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to address some critical issues concerning the imminent implementation of the IMO Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention.

Despite delays by governments with respect to ratification, the 2004 BWM Convention, which is intended to prevent damage to local ecosystems by invasive species of marine micro-organisms carried in ships’ ballast water, is expected to enter into force within the next 2 years.

ICS Director of Regulatory Affairs, David Tongue, explained: “Shipping companies represented by our member national associations have serious concerns about the availability of suitable ballast water treatment equipment, the robustness of the type approval process and, above all, the difficulties of retrofitting tens of thousands of existing ships within the time frame established by the BWM Convention.”

In an important submission to the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee, which meets in October, ICS has requested that the issue of fixed dates for the retrofitting of expensive new equipment by large numbers of ships, perhaps as many as 60,000, needs to be addressed urgently. ICS believes that a serious discussion is needed at IMO before the Convention enters into force.

In particular, in view of the bottlenecks that will be created when the Convention enters in force, with many ships having to be retrofitted either before their next special survey or their next intermediate survey, ICS has proposed that the IMO should modify the BWM Convention’s requirements so that existing ships should not be required to be retrofitted with treatment equipment until their next full special survey. In view of the pressures on shipyards that will need to fit the equipment, this would smooth out implementation over a 5 year timeline around the date of entry into force of the Convention, rather than 2 or 3 years as at present.
Moreover, in order to make it possible for other ships to be retrofitted within the required timeline, ICS proposes that ships approaching their 4th special survey should be exempted from the equipment requirements.

Mr Tongue added: “Given that the costs of fitting the treatment equipment may be in the order of 1 to 5 million dollars a ship, it does not make economic sense for older ships approaching the end of their lives to incur this huge expenditure. However, the impact on the environment of exempting them would be negligible since these ships will still be required to perform deep water ballast exchange at sea for the 2 or 3 remaining years that most of them will continue to operate.”

In the event that IMO does not accept the suggestion that ships should not be required to retrofit until their next 5 year renewal survey, ICS suggests that ships over 18 years old should be exempted from the equipment requirements.

In practice, changes to the BWM Convention cannot be adopted until after it enters into force, but given the importance of ensuring smooth implementation ICS sees no reason why IMO cannot agree provisional changes with respect to detailed implementation in advance.

In a separate submission to IMO, ICS has requested that IMO considers modifying its current draft guidelines for type approval of equipment, and for ballast water sampling and analysis that will be used by port state control, so that as far as possible they are comparable with those recently adopted by the United States.

David Tongue commented: “A large proportion of the fleet will have to comply with the US requirements which cannot be changed. For the sake of global uniformity we think it would be helpful if the relevant IMO Guidelines can be modified.”

A most important consideration, according to ICS, is that the US standards for type approval of equipment, under its Environmental Verification Program, are far more robust than the IMO equivalent. Some of the equipment which has already been approved in line with original IMO standards has already had to be withdrawn because it has been demonstrated not to deliver the agreed IMO ‘kill standard’ for removing unwanted marine micro-organisms.

Source: ICSICS Seeks Crucial Changes to IMO Ballast Water Regime in Effort to Avoid Chaos 

US Coast Guard has recently adopted new regulations relating to ballast water management

US Coast Guard has recently adopted new regulations relating to ballast water management

Ships calling at US ports and intending to discharge ballast will be required to use an approved ballast water treatment
system that meets the US discharge standard (which is the same as the IMO D-2 standard) in accordance with the following timetable.

	Capacity	Date constructed	Compliance date
New vessels	All	On or after 1 december 2013	On delivery
Existing vessels	<1500 m="m" sup="sup">3

Before Dec 1 2013 1st of Jan 2016 1500-5000 m³ Before dec 1 2013 1st of Jan 2014 >5000 m³ Before dec 1 2013 1st of Jan 2016
Existing vessels must comply at the first scheduled docking after the above date.