An unprecedented time for gas shipping

LNG shipping continues to go through changes and events, some dramatic, some short term and some very much longer term. These include, but are not limited to Covid-19, worldwide gas shortages, skills shortages, decarbonisation and EEXI.

As we, hopefully, are starting to come out of the major effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, our thoughts are with those who have lost their lives and their families. We are seeing, some degree, of a return to normality.

This was evident at Gastech, held as a ‘in-person’ event in Dubai, with several thousand attending. SIGTTO re-opened its London Liaison Office in early October, meeting members in person. Additionally, I recently spoke at a conference in London, in person, for the first time since Covid.

In December, I look forward to this year’s LNG Ship/Shore Interface Conference, Europe, due to take place in London.

Meeting my own staff, members and other industry players, face-to-face, in person, makes a huge difference and the value it gives to even just a basic conversation, compared to the last 18 months of Zoom and Team conference calls, is incalculable.

A large part of SIGTTO’s engagement with its membership is through face-to-face meetings at regional forums, panel sessions and technical committees.

With this transition to ‘normality’, SIGTTO is planning its autumn board and AGM on 18 November in Athens, Greece, which will be hosted by Naftomar Shipping. This will be SIGTTO’s first in-person event since early 2020. It will also be the first time I have been on a plane since early last year! We also certainly hope that SIGTTO’s panel meeting, also in Athens, scheduled for the end of March 2022, can go ahead as planned – one for your calendars!

“The push to decarbonisation continues at an ever-increasing velocity”

Worldwide gas shortages and the resultant high prices have seen natural gas thrust into the main news headlines. The reasons for the shortages are well documented and I won’t go into them here; however, the LNG shipping sector has seen a huge increase in demand with very few vessels unfixed, making SIGTTO’s shipowning members very pleased!

A challenge for those same members is transitioning their fleets to meet IMO’s targets for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40% by 2030 and 50% by 2050, as compared with 2008. The push to decarbonisation continues at an ever-increasing velocity, with IMO’s Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) providing Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and Energy Efficiency for Existing Ships Index (EEXI) requirements for vessels along with the need, for LNG ship operators, to look beyond immediate compliance with EEDI and EEXI and to be prepared for the carbon intensity reductions lying ahead which will ensure that gas carriers are operated efficiently.

Another fresh challenge for the gas shipping industry are the emerging markets for hydrogen and CO₂, and orders for the first liquid hydrogen and CO₂ carriers. Expectations are that the first liquefied hydrogen gas carrier, Suiso Frontier, will arrive in Australia late in Q4 2021 or Q1 2022.

Northern Lights JV, equally owned by Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, is moving forward with its CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure development. It ordered two 7,500-m³ CO₂ carriers from China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry for delivery in mid-2024.

This is a fantastic, unprecedented time to be involved in gas shipping, with a great deal of innovation, but the industry must remain vigilant, taking a collective, responsible approach to safety.