Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is destined to become a key marine engine fuel in the future.

Typically merchant ships are when you have diesel engines, most of them operating on heavy fuel essential oil (HFO) rather than the more costly sea diesel oil (MDO). The following decade, however , could get a remarkable change in the energy being used on ships. Double fuel engines are, actually already in strong need today.

Fuel represents approximately 60-70% of a ship’s working costs. With the price of HFO steadily rising by 254% since 2001 and provided the global economic downturn, ship proprietors have been forced to look for methods to reduce fuel consumption. The majority of large vessels are consequently currently being operated in “slow steaming “mode, since reduced speeds allow fuel usage to be substantially reduced.

Apart from higher prices there is another factor that will play a role within the fuel used in the future with regard to marine engines: the environment. The actual International Maritime Organization (IMO) is implementing several steps aimed at restricting the delivery industry’s emissions. One of them may be the Energy Efficiency Design Catalog, due to become effective within 2013, that will indicate the ship’s CO2 emissions indicated in grams per lot of cargo transported 1 nautical mile.

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