By
Rebecca Gibson |
The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) IMO2020 convention, which mandates a maximum sulphur content of 0.5 per cent in marine fuels globally, heralded the start of a new era in cleaner marine fuels. It is designed to help reduce the cruise and wider shipping industry’s environmental impact.
To help achieve 2020 compliance while steering a course towards the IMO’s 2030 and 2050 targets, the cruise industry identified LNG as an immediate and proven solution that also offers a platform to transition to the cleaner fuel solutions of tomorrow, such as ammonia, methanol and biofuels.
Pre-Covid, more than 20 LNG-powered cruise ships were scheduled for delivery by 2027. However, one of the biggest questions was whether suppliers had the infrastructure to deliver it to cruise ships.
TotalEnergies, which is the world’s second-largest LNG supplier (primarily through its Marine Fuels and Lubmarine divisions) has developed a growing global infrastructure to support the cruise industry through fuel, bunkering, lubricant and technical support solutions.
TotalEnergies’ latest chartered LNG bunkering vessel, which is due to come into service in Marseille at the end of this year, has been developed in part to support the growing LNG-powered Mediterranean cruise fleet. One of her first contracts will be to perform LNG bunkering services to MSC Cruises’ upcoming LNG-powered cruise ships that will call at the French port.
In addition, TotalEnergies has been operating the 18,600-cubic-metre Gas Agility in Rotterdam, Netherlands since November 2020. By 2022, it will also share the use of a third bunker vessel in Singapore, allowing it to supply LNG in the Port of Singapore. Both bunker vessels can serve a high range of commercial vessels including cruise ships.
Supporting this is a range of proven lubricant solutions from Lubmarine. Designed to deliver optimum cleanliness for the cruise industry’s four-stroke engines, they include Aurelia LNG and low BN Disola, both suitable for increasingly popular dual-fuel engines. But an effective lubrication solution is only half of the equation; proactive engine oil analysis programmes are also vital to enable cruise vessel owners and operators to minimise engine wear, while delivering significant efficiencies.
“Through the combination of tailor-made, specialist LNG and dual-fuel lubricants and engine oil analysis programmes, and with wider technical support from our team of marine lubricant engineers, cruise vessel owners can protect and enhance the reliability and performance of four-stroke engines while meeting their responsibilities under IMO2020,” said Serge Dal Farra, global marketing manager for Lubmarine.
This article was first published in the Autumn/Winter issue of Cruise & Ferry Review. All information was correct at the time of printing, but may since have changed.
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