The imminent arrival in Hong Kong of a floating storage and regasification unit with the ability to supply liquefied natural gas to bunkering vessels does not appear to have created many waves or enthusiasm for its potential.
The FSRU is a project owned by Hong Kong’s power supplier, CLP to supply cleaner energy to the city, and it comes with a facility for ship-to-ship transfer to bunker barges. CLP would be keen to exploit the facility as the flow of larger volumes would lower overall costs.
However, unlike other jurisdictions such as Singapore and Malaysia, Hong Kong seems to be totally unprepared for the arrival of a fleet of LNG-fuelled containerships in the pipeline. Singapore has already launched its first LNG-fuelled bunker tanker and bunker barges are being built. Meanwhile, Malaysia will open its bunkering facilities in the first quarter of next year.
Hong Kong consultancy BMT Asia Pacific pointed to an absence of vital components needed to exploit the FSRU, including regulatory support, critical mass and the physical infrastructure necessary. The consultancy argued that a form of impetus should come from government, a view backed up by the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce as early as 2018.
“If shipowners choose to adopt LNG, their future choice of port of call will definitely be affected by whether such fuel or the bunkering facility is available at the port,” HKGCC said at the time.
“Unless we are prepared to cater to this fuel switch, Hong Kong risks losing the capability to serve the new wave of LNG powered vessels including container ships of up to 22,000 teu,” it added.
“We believe that Hong Kong should not wait but move quickly to ensure that we remain the most competitive shipping and logistics hub in Asia,” the chamber urged.
The fact that the Marine Department was quoted in Lloyd’s List as saying that it would welcome any project proposal for the provision of LNG bunkering clearly indicates that no such proposal is currently in existence.
A lack of action on the part of the authorities could be as damaging to Hong Kong’s Port as the inertia that has existed for years over a final definition for the air draft of the Tsing Ma Bridge.
Source:
hongkongmaritimehub
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