As more ships switch to liquefied natural gas as their primary fuel source, the Port of Nanaimo and Seaspan Marine are stepping up to meet the demand.
Seaspan Marine has spawned a new company, Seaspan Energy Ltd., to meet the growing need for marine fuels that are cleaner and generate lower emissions than bunker oil fuels, and now operates three ships – the Seaspan Lions, Seaspan Garibaldi and Seaspan Baker – that carry out ship-to-ship LNG bunkering to vessels in Nanaimo, Vancouver and Long Beach, Calif.
LNG shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship bunkering – the term used in the marine industry when refuelling ships – is now a growing portion of the services the Port of Nanaimo provides for shipping, delivering cargo and anchoring in Nanaimo.
Capt. Meraz Sekhon, Port of Nanaimo assistant harbour master and manager of operations, said Seaspan Garibaldi bunkering was done in June with the car carrier ship the Lake St. Anne.
“Most of these ships are a new class of vessels. They’re hybrid vessels. That means they can run on dual fuel, LNG and traditional fuel,” Sekhon said. “LNG is low-carbon emission and it supports the [Canada net-zero emission by 2050] goal and a lot of the car carrier companies are shifting – especially the new-build vessels – are being built with the dual fuel capability.”
The Lake Saint Anne, completed in February by China Merchants JI in Jiangsu, China, is an example of “new-build” ships with the latest fuel system technologies.
Vancouver became the first port in western North America to ship-to-ship bunker a car carrier with LNG, according to Seaspan, when Seaspan Garibaldi completed a ship-to-ship bunker of Lake Herman, an LNG-powered car carrier at anchor in English Bay.
Sekhon noted that until Seaspan’s Tilbury Terminal in Delta was ready to transfer LNG to the three Seaspan LNG bunkering vessels, they were bunkered in Nanaimo with LNG trucked from Fortis B.C.’ s Mt. Hayes facility near Ladysmith.
“They came here at the Nanaimo Assembly Wharf and then they fuelled – they got the cargo LNG from trucks to their ships … After that they’ve done multiple ship-to-ship LNG bunkers on car carriers, tankers, cruise ships, container vessels within the English Bay anchorage and then Nanaimo was the second port in Canada to do the LNG ship-to-ship bunker,” he said.
Nanaimo has, in a sense, become the home port for Seaspan’s LNG bunkering ships, which layover in the harbour while waiting to perform operations elsewhere.
“So you will see, a lot of the time, Seaspan vessels here. In fact, last month they did a first-ever crew change from Seaspan to Seaspan, so they tied together and did a whole-crew swap,” Sekhon said.
As major car carrier and container lines start diverting hybrid fuel vessels to Canada’s West Coast for LNG, Nanaimo will play its part in supporting the Port of Vancouver.
“Which eventually will help us reduce the carbon footprint and the emissions,” Sekhon said.
Bunkering ships with LNG also translates to more revenue for the port authority, especially when combined with other services the port provides.
“It’s all interlinked to the businesses. If the vessels are coming here for service calls, they’re coming here for bunkers. That means they need fuel. They also need water. They also need provisions. They also need garbage and recycling facilities. So, those kinds of revenue, those kind of service calls, definitely [have an] impact,” Sekhon said.
He also noted the hybrid fuel ships are cleaner in operation and safer, and built to International Marine Organization standards, which is important since the B.C. coast will be seeing the vessels in increasing numbers.
“Even if there’s some spill it will just dissipate. There’s no physical residue in the water or in the environment, so there’s no pollution per se. That’s why it’s way safer for the environment,” he said. “Apart from reducing the carbon footprint, even if it spills in the water it just evaporates.”
Sekhon said development and refinement in marine propulsion technology has leapt ahead significantly over the past 20 years, which also contributes to lowering environmental impacts, but he also noted that LNG bunkering is not new to the B.C. coast.
“B.C. Ferries uses it every day…” Sekhon said. “Seaspan ferries which come to Duke Point, they use LNG. It’s been there for almost a decade now [and] like I said, there are multiple layers of protection against spills and safety checklists, they prevent any untoward incidents.”