Gas as Ship Fuel - GL Drafts Guidelines

Hamburg, 25 November 2009 - Engine problems and damages from the effects of low quality heavy fuel oils will be a thing of the past for owners switching to gas as ship fuel. Ship operators suffer from inferior bunkers, poor ignition and combustion, uneven heat and pressure distribution on pistons, piston rings and cylinder liners.

These challenges are gone when gas is used as ship fuel. Germanischer Lloyd (GL) is preparing new guidelines for gas as ship fuel together with supporting technical guidance on the application of the IMO regulations. Compared to oil, natural gas has clear advantages: high efficiency and a lower environmental impact.

In early June 2009 the IMO Committee on Marine Safety (MSC) gave way for the application of natural gas as ship fuel by adopting of the "Interim Guidelines on Safety for Natural Gas-Fuelled Engines Installations in Ships" as Resolution MSC 285(86). These Interim Guidelines have been developed by IMO subcommittee on Bulk Liquid and Gases (BLG) during the last years, with the contribution of GL. They form the first step to a general code for gas as ship fuel, the IGF-Code, which is currently under development by IMO.

GL's guidelines help ship owners and yards already now in the technical application of gas as ship fuel. "The goal of these guidelines is to provide criteria for the arrangement and installation of machinery for propulsion and auxiliary purposes, using natural gas as fuel, which will have an equivalent level of integrity in terms of safety, reliability and dependability as that which can be achieved with a new and comparable conventional oil fuelled main and auxiliary machinery", said Dr Gerd-Michael Würsig, GL's expert for gas as ship fuel.

The IMO Interim Guidelines apply to internal combustion engine installations in ships using natural gas as fuel. The engines may use either a single fuel (gas) or dual fuel (gas and oil fuel), and the gas may be stored in gaseous or liquid state. They should be applied in addition to the relevant provisions of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974 and the Protocol of 1988 relating thereto, as amended.

LNG Usage is Rising
For a long time, LNG was a fuel for users who needed natural gas but had no or difficult access to pipelines. Additionally, LNG carriers were driven partly using the LNG cargo as fuel in steam turbines of low efficiency. Today, an increasing part of LNG carriers is driven by high efficiency dual fuel engines. This development, which has happened on a commercial basis since the millennium, supported the introduction of LNG as ship fuel.

However, introducing LNG as fuel for shipping also requires the availability of LNG in ports and the aim of protecting the environment from emissions, especially CO2 and NOx. Nevertheless, a growing population, the industrial development of this population and the limitations of fossil fuel resources will drive the tendency towards low carbon content of fuel and higher efficiencies, which are possible through technologies that are already on their way.

The long term future of heavy fuel oil as bunkers is questionable, both in terms of dependency on oil and not at least with regards to emissions. Natural gas in contrast gives a far more environmentally friendly combustion and in addition there appear to be greater reserves available than oil. Thus natural gas in liquid form (LNG) as marine bunkers has the potential to be the solution for the shipping industry to cope with its emission challenges in the years to come.

Germanischer Lloyd press release