A Siem Car Carriers newbuilding is making LNG-fuelling history by becoming the first natural-gas powered ship of its type to make a transatlantic voyage.
The 7,500-ceu Siem Confucius (built 2020), which can carry 4,800 vehicles on 13 decks, left Emden on Tuesday for the Gulf of Mexico, the ship’s charterer, Volkswagen Group, said.
“For the first time, vehicles from Europe will be transported from Europe to North and Central America on a car freighter powered by LNG,” the German carmaker said.
A sistership newbuilding, the Siem Aristotle, is due to start its charter with Volkswagen this year.
Both ships are equipped with two 1,800-cbm LNG bunker tanks, which Volkswagen said provides sufficient capacity for the voyage from Europe to the US.
Siem chief executive Kenneth Ross said the Siem Confucius was bunkered with 450 cbm of LNG in Rotterdam in a ship-to-ship operation.
Ross said that on a typical round voyage from Europe to the US, Siem would expect to bunker about 1,800 cbm of LNG per trip, loading the bunkers at Emden.
He said the vessel has been designed with sufficient tank capacity to undertake 1.5 voyages on its Atlantic route with the option of refuelling in Emden or on the US east coast.
In 2017, TradeWinds reported that energy major Shell had signed a long-term supply agreement with Siem to supply LNG as bunkers.
Cleaner sailing
Volkswagen said sailing on LNG reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 25%, nitrogen oxides by 30%, particulates by 60% and sulphur oxides by 100%.
The car carriers could also be operated on biogas or synthetic methane, known as e-gas, from renewable sources, the company added.
Volkswagen Group Logistics head Thomas Zernechel described the LNG-fuelled car carrier as an important part of the vehicle maker's carbon reduction strategy.
"By 2025, in accordance with the environmental mission statement 'goTOzero', the company aims to reduce its total net CO2 emissions by 30 percent and be get CO2-neutral in 2050. All transports — by water, road and rail — must be climate-friendly to achieve this," he said.
"We have to take action now, because ships like the LNG freighter Siem Confucius and soon its sistership, Siem Aristotle, will be in service for many years.”
Volkswagen said its Group Logistics arm organises, coordinates and is responsible for about 7,700 ship departures worldwide every year, shipping 2.8m new cars per year.
