Asked about the use of alternative fuels, Nikos Tsakos, head of Tsakos Energy Navigation, said: “Well, that’s a one-billion-dollar question.”
It is clear that the decarbonisation process for the shipping industry is still “murky” and we are most likely headed for a multi-fuel future. At the same time, fuel support infrastructures, beyond LNG and LPG, are still at an early stage. However, both options do not ensure a long-term reduction in emissions, but are presented as short-lived, transitional solutions.
Therefore, it is difficult to invest in alternative fuels today, especially since adding an extra dual-fuel engine, for example burning LNG in a newbuild, significantly increases the cost of building a ship.
Also, dual-fuel technology does not mean that the ship will automatically burn new fuel, but that it will move between conventional and alternative propulsion.
As the future of alternative fuels is vague, the vast majority of shipowners either order tonnage that will have a “green” orientation, with reduced fuel consumption and compatible with requirements of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), either build ships with dual-fuel engines, or steamers marked “ready”, which means that they will be ready to burn alternative fuel, with the appropriate engine conversion.
After all, nobody wants to be a “first mover”, i.e. to make a groundbreaking investment of several billion dollars in a new ship model. This scenario, the innovative ship becoming “unsustainable” within a relatively short period of time is not unlikely, given that technology is rapidly evolving.
