Another methanol producer conducts methanol bunkering in Trinidad

Canadian methanol producer Methanex bunkered a chemical tanker with an undisclosed amount of grey methanol at the Port of Point Lisas on 21 August.

PHOTO: Uni-Tanker's Alsia Swan conducting ship-to-ship methanol bunkering of Seymour Sun. Methanex

The ship-to-ship (STS) bunkering of Waterfront Shipping-operated vessel, Seymour Sun, was carried out by Alsia Swan, a tanker operated by Danish shipping company Uni-Tankers.

Waterfront Shipping is the shipping arm of Methanex.

Fuelling the methanol shift

This is the second methanol bunkering operation in headlines this month from Trinidad and Tobago. Methanol producer Proman announced last week that it is on track to reach a total of 12,500 mt of methanol bunkered volume at the Port of Point Lisas by the end of August.

The Port of Point Lisas is well-positioned and is known as the “Gateway to the Americas”, handling container cargo from the US, Europe, the UK and the Far East, Methanex said.

Infrastructure readiness for methanol bunkering in the Port of Point Lisas and fuel availability in Trinidad will position the port as "key player" in methanol bunkering, according to Methanex. While the current operation  used grey methanol as bunker fuel, the established infrastructure can also accommodate green methanol as supply increases going ahead. 

 Emission setback

Methanex operates a methanol plant in Trinidad and Tobago that uses natural gas as feedstock to produce approximately 1,085,000 mt/year of grey methanol, according to its website.

Grey methanol cannot be used to reduce a vessel’s emissions. According to a report by Longspur Research, grey methanol produces 1.14 mt of CO2 per mt (mtCO2/mt) of fuel, whereas VLSFO emits 1 mtCO2/mt of fuel. This means grey methanol emits 14% more CO2 than VLSFO.

As a result, methanol-capable vessels must bunker green methanol like bio- or e-methanol (0.05 mtCO2/mt of fuel) to achieve emission reductions.

By Konica Bhatt

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