The Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel (SGMF) signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia’s LNG MFI to jointly promote the use of liquefied natural gas as fuel.
Under the agreement, LNG MFI will promote the use of LNG in Australasia, while SGMF will promote the Australian example in other regions.
Currently, shipping is contributing up to 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, however, without proper action this percentage could increase as other industries accelerate their reduction programs.
Shipping is still dealing with the residual Sulphur in heavy fuel oil and yet there there is an effective ban from 2020 with the global sulphur cap coming into force, SGMF said.
But the elephant in the room for shipping is carbon and it needs to act quicker than it ever has before.
“One candidate fuel that could be used as we move towards the use of the cleanest known fuel of hydrogen is in fact natural gas, commonly known as LNG in its cryogenic transported state. Shipping has successfully moved this energy around the globe for over 50 years however its very use as a fuel for shipping is another matter entirely,” SGMF said.
The society has produced guidelines for the industry to keep the use of LNG as fuel safe and sustainable. The agreement with LNG MFI is one of the partnerships created to advance the use of LNG as fuel.