Nauticor, MAN Energy Solutions, and Wessels Marine have partnered to bunker the container ship Wes Amelie with synthetic natural gas (SNG).

Audi's power-to-gas facility in Werlte near the German Cloppenburg, where a liquefaction plant is currently under construction, will provide 20t of SNG for the project.

Following the plant's commissioning, currently foreseen for Q2 2020, Nauticor will take care of transporting the SNG batch from the production facility to the ship as well as of truck-to-ship bunkering of Wes Amelie.

Since the Audi facility is using wind energy to produce SNG, the CO₂ emissions from Wes Amelie are expected to decline by 56t/trip (as of today, the ship plies on liquefied natural gas, LNG, also supplied by Nauticor).

"As a first mover in the use of LNG and SNG as fuel for container vessels we can build upon a solid cooperation with Nauticor, who already supported the commissioning of the retrofitted Wes Amelie two years ago. With this flagship project, we are showing that the already existing LNG supply infrastructure, as well as the LNG technology on-board of seagoing vessels are capable of using CO₂ neutral SNG. This takes us a good step closer to climate-neutral shipping," Christian Hoepfner, Managing Owner, Wessels Marine, commented.

Mahinde Abeynaike, CEO, Nauticor, added, "The project shows the long-term path towards a completely climate-neutral shipping sector. […] A vessel equipped for the use of (fossil) LNG is also able to use SNG, which could be generated from 100% climate-neutral sources, without the need to conduct any modifications. Nevertheless, it will take some time until SNG can be produced in quantities and for a price, which are sufficient for the commercial use as fuel for shipping."

Photo: Wessels Marine