Upcoming marine LNG supplier Puget LNG is looking into adding LNG bunker vessels or barges to supply marine customers at its Tacoma LNG facility.
Blake Littauer, Puget LNG director for business development, said the company has started discussions with some partners and industry players on the design of vessels for new maritime customers and is having initial conversations with the coast guard.
Speaking on IQPC’s LNG Bunkering Live meeting, he said Puget LNG is working with third parties to find “economic and flexible solutions” that will meet a variety of maritime vessel needs and allow the company to grow in the future.
Answering questions, Littauer admitted that these discussions on LNG bunker vessels are still in their “infancy”.
We will be the only dot on the map in the west coast of the United States
Blake Littauer
But he said Puget LNG has made “a lot of progress” in talking to the 29 shipping lines and the nine cruise operators that call in both the ports of Tacoma and Seattle.
He said the company had generated some leads on those who have procurement coming online in the next couple of years and with shipowners "looking to make a change".
Tacoma-based Puget LNG will be ready to supply LNG as bunkers from its soon-to-be-commissioned, 1,000-cbm-per-day liquefaction facility and bunkering pier in the first quarter of 2021.
Anchor customer
Littauer said shipowner Tote is the anchor marine customer.
The company’s two Orca-class ro-ro vessels, which are being retrofitted for LNG-fuelling, will be bunkered directly from the pier, where a purpose-built loading arm has been installed supplying LNG at around 10.5-cbm per minute.
These vessels will be shuttling between Tacoma and Alaska each week.
The bunkering pier is connected to the liquefaction plant, where a 32,000-cbm storage tank is located, by an underground pipeline.
“We will be the only dot on the map in the west coast of the United States,” Littauer said.
Mission to Mars
Littauner, who previously worked for Clean LNG, which provided LNG to Mars voyage-focused Spacex, said Tacoma is well positioned to supply vessels making short transits to Seattle and other Puget Sound ports, as well as those on transpacific routes.
“I figure if you can go to Mars using LNG as your propellent, you can probably get yourself across the Pacific Ocean,” he said. "We feel like we are well situated to take advantage of some of that trade coming across the Pacific."
The liquefaction facility is a shared facility with utility Puget Sound Energy (PSE).
PSE is a sister company to Puget LNG, with both entities falling under the ownership of holding company Puget Energy.
Littauner said PSE has set a target to be 100% carbon neutral by 2030 and to have net zero methane emissions in two years.
He said this means Puget LNG can work with customers to bring bio-LNG and blends to maritime customers and their vessels.
“PSE has already laid the ground work for that and we are excited to piggyback off their efforts and to bring renewable LNG and bio-LNG to the market,” he said.
