The project, lead by French Dragages Ports[ds_preview] (DP), is the first phase of the Global Project »Towards a Blue Atlantic Arch by 2025« that aims to improve the sustainability of marine traffic. It includes the retrofit of dredger »Samuel de Champlain« to an LNG engine system.
The EU co-funded CEF project with title »Spanish/French Sustainable Atlantic Motorways of the seas Using as fuel for Engine LNG«, or S/F SamueLNG for short, has now started in Gijon, Spain.
The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) has agreed that implementation of a 0.5% global sulphur cap on marine fuel will be brought forward to 2020, from the originally proposed date of 2025. According to Dragages Ports the S/F SamueLNG Project will contribute to this by helping to achieve the objectives of two key EU Directives: Directive 2014/94/EU on the sustainability of the European maritime transport and Directive 2012/33/EU on reduction in the sulphur content of marine fuels.
Over the next three years, the S/F SamueLNG Project will cover the key activities:
- LNG retrofit of DP’s »Samuel de Champlain« – an 8,500m3 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger – from Marine Gas Oil to a dual-source fuel engine system
- LNG bunkering studies including: a risk assessment in the port of Nantes Saint-Nazaire, a mobile bunkering unit in the Port of Gijon, and a floating device in the Port of Vigo (in conjunction with each of the port’s partners)
- Environmental Impact Assessment studies in the Ports of Rouen, Le Havre and Nantes Saint-Nazaire
- The training of staff involved in LNG operations in the Ports of Nantes Saint-Nazaire and Rouen
- Dissemination of the results to the maritime community by CEDA
The Project is coordinated by DP and supported by a consortium of 12 partners, from along the Atlantic Arch, representing France, Spain and the Netherlands. The partners working alongside DP are five public port authorities (Nantes Saint-Nazaire (GPMNSN), Le Havre (GPMH), Rouen (GPMR), Port Authority of Gijon (APG), Port Authority of Vigo (APV)), ship engineering and design companies Inova, Ghenova; energy supply companies Energias de Portugal (EDP) and Gas Natural Fenosa (GNF), short sea shipping company Suardiaz and the international dredging association CEDA.
The EU tendering process to choose the shipyard that will carry out the LNG conversion of »Samuel de Champlain« will begin soon.
