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B.C. eyes LNG ship refuelling facility at Port of Vancouver

VANCOUVER — The Port of Vancouver is expected to become home to the first LNG ship-refuelling facility on North America’s West Coast. The B.C. government, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Fortis B.C.
Horgan
B.C. Premier John Horgan

VANCOUVER — The Port of Vancouver is expected to become home to the first LNG ship-refuelling facility on North America’s West Coast.

The B.C. government, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and Fortis B.C. are studying options for the facility, hoping future cargo ships and cruise ships will be powered by natural gas instead of heavy bunker fuel or diesel.

Officials with the province and the Port of Vancouver said the location of the proposed facility has not been decided. It would be a full-service jetty that would fill up smaller refuelling vessels, which would in turn fuel oceangoing vessels.

A good bet for location is the Fortis LNG plant on Delta’s Tilbury Island in the Fraser River, which already fuels five B.C. Ferries vessels and two Seaspan cargo ferries.

A statement from the office of Premier John Horgan said Fortis is partnering with WesPac to develop a full-service jetty on Tilbury Island in the Fraser River.

Among the major projects on its website, WesPac lists a proposal — still in the pre-application phase — for a marine jetty next to Fortis’s existing LNG production and storage facility.

The use of liquefied natural gas as ship fuel is forecast to expand in the coming years, and B.C. is well-positioned to benefit from this growth, Horgan’s office said.

According to the most recent forecasts from global energy consultancy group Wood Mackenzie, global demand for LNG bunkering is skyrocketing. In 2018, the marketplace totalled 170,000 tonnes of LNG. Global demand is expected to exceed nine million tonnes by 2025 and eclipse 35 million tonnes a year by 2035.

Replacing diesel fuel with LNG has the potential to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by about 20 per cent, according to the province: “Because Fortis B.C.’s Tilbury facility runs on clean B.C. electricity, LNG produced there could reduce GHG emissions in marine shipping by up to 26 per cent.”

LNG-fuelled vessels are less likely to spill fuel than those using heavy fuel oil or diesel.

“The increased activity of LNG-powered ships would significantly reduce the GHG emissions produced by the international marine shipping industry, in line with our efforts to lower other transportation emissions under Clean B.C.,” Energy Minister Michelle Mungall said.