Hydrogen could be a source of producing fuels suitable for being brought onboard vessels
Gas, methanol and ammonia were named as the most promising marine fuels by Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, CEO of the leading classification and consultancy company DNV GL – Maritime, when asked by IAA PortNews to share his forecast on using alternative fuels in shipping at the online opening press conference for SMM DIGITAL.
“Gas is certainly a bridging fuel. That is really quite a long bridge but it brings us forward to … decarbonization through bringing in e-fuels which later on will give a lot of flexibility. So gas, although not in itself the perfect solution, can certainly be a really good pathway to decarbonization especially when you bring in the e-fuels”, said the speaker adding that exploration of different opportunities should be continued at this stage.
According to him, “methanol and ammonia has quite a bit of potential and something that certainly needs to be followed closely”.
“Hydrogen, although maybe not suitable for the deep-sea shipping segment because it takes a lot of volume, could be a source of producing more suitable fuels to be brought onboard", said Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen.
He emphasized the need to explore a lot of different pathways as there are lots of opportunities. The expert said we should not forget that, although doing energy efficiency measures makes a lot of sense as well as being able to have the vessels in place at the right time without overspeeding to meet the contractual requirements to be at a certain port at a certain date and then sit outside at the port waiting for cargo to be loaded, there are many things to be worked on. Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen believes that in the overall context of digitalization and increased transparency there is a lot to do towards increasing the efficiency within the industry.
“My bet would be on gas, on methanol and ammonia and then we should continue to explore a lot of other alternatives», concluded the expert.