Germany extends LNG grant offer

Hapag-Lloyd announced that it will convert a former UASC - LNG ready - vessel to the gas fuel, but there are few retrofit projects in the container ship sector.

Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) has extended the grant application deadline for LNG vessel conversions to 31 December 2021.

A number of tanker projects have benefitted from the grant system but as yet no reported container vessel applications have been reported.

BMVI is offering grants of 40-60% of an LNG retrofit cost for ocean-going vessels, the level of grant offered is dependent on the company size. BMVI believes the use of LNG as a bridging technology will allow a future increase in the use of bio and synthetic methane that will eventually enable the development of climate-neutral vessels. So far BMVI has reportedly invested nearly US$37 million in 12 projects.

Meanwhile, the price for HFO on the MABUX World Index averaged US$343.49/tonne while VLSFO had climbed to US$430/tonne on the same scale. Having suffered a shock to the oil system in the spring of 2020 with the failure of oil producers to agree production levels and then the collapse in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic, bunker fuel prices have recovered somewhat.

However, the spread, the difference between the cost of HFO and VLSFO remains below US$100/tonne and that is unlikely to lure many operators to fit scrubber technology.

Source: MABUX




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