Industry discusses LNG as key to cruise sector growth

LNG is an option for cruise terminals to achieve sustainable growth, said delegates at the Greenport Cruise Congress 2017 held at the Port of Amsterdam.

In a bid to support its growth and emissions reduction targets, the port is exploring LNG bunkering, as the cruise industry adopts the fuel more readily.

However, Michael Schaap, Commercial director marine of Titan LNG, noted that LNG infrastructure is insufficient outside European ports, adding that the “missing link” in the LNG transport chain is a non-propelled pontoon which can be moved to wherever bunkering is required.

Spanish Port of Barcelona and Greek Port of Piraeus also emphasized on the importance of LNG infrastructure development.

Namely, Mr. Stavros Hatzakos, general manager of the Port of Piraeus, was quoted as saying that LNG is the only way to meet current and upcoming strict requirements for SOx, NOx, PM and CO2 emissions.

In addition, Jordi Vila, Head of environmental affairs at Port of Barcelona, pointed out that the best option for ports is to be active in supporting cleaner ships, promote the use of LNG or bio-fuels and develop shore power for small vessels.

Concluding, Tiziana Murgia, the chairman of the conference, highlighted the fact that the industry still suffers from ‘a gap in knowledge’, but ports could promote use of LNG as a fuel, as they can influence port-city relationships.