Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine, A*STAR team up with ABS to build 12 LNG tugs

Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine and national science agency A*STAR has teamed up with the American Bureau of Shipping to build a fleet of LNG- battery hybrid powered tugs, which would allow its operations to comply with a global sulfur cap in 2020, The Straits Times reported.
The 12 new LNG-battery hybrid tugs will replace existing diesel-powered ones.

Sembcorp Marine president and chief executive officer Wong Weng Sun said: "We expect to start constructing the first pair of hybrid tugs in 2019 and have them ready for operation by 2021."

Sembcorp Marine and ABS will also work on the certification of Sembcorp Marine’s gas value chain solutions for small-scale LNG applications, such as LNG-battery hybrid tugs, LNG bunker vessels and LNG terminals.

The shipyard company will work with A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing and ABS on offshore LNG processing, transfer and containment, and new applications of LNG as a sustainable fuel.

The International Maritime Organization will limit sulfur content in marine fuel to 0.5% in 2020 from 3.5% currently.  As such, the shipping industry will have to switch to cleaner fuels, of which, LNG is one, in order to comply with the global regulation.

Photo credit: Pixabay
Published: 20 September, 2018