Long Beach offers $1 million incentive for first commercial methanol bunkering

The first oceangoing vessel to bunker methanol on a “commercial scale” at the Port of Long Beach will receive a $1 million incentive award, the port authority said.

IMAGE: Container ship docked in the Port of Long Beach. Getty Images

According to the port's estimates, bunkering a vessel with methanol currently costs about $1.5 million per call, compared with roughly $1 million for conventional marine fuels.

The incentive is designed to cover that estimated $500,000 price gap, and set aside an additional $500,000 for ancillary costs including “operational and safety procedures and working with fuel providers and distributors, as well as local permitting agencies,” it added.

The port authority has not yet clarified whether the incentive will apply only to a vessel bunkering green methanol, or whether grey or blue methanol will also qualify.

But the authority said the initiative is “expected to send a strong signal to the global market of the interest in expanding the availability of clean marine fuels”, suggesting the challenge could potentially include a cap on the greenhouse gas intensity of eligible fuels.

“This is the most direct and practical lever we can pull to demonstrate the feasibility of bunkering methanol fuel in San Pedro Bay,” said Frank Colonna, president of the Long Beach Harbor Commission.

“This is about demonstrating that we’re serious about creating a North American market for methanol bunkering, and giving the industry an incentive to invest,” said Noel Hacegaba, Port of Long Beach chief executive, adding that rising fuel costs are “strengthening the case for energy diversification and greater energy independence.”

By Konica Bhatt

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