Experts told how much time it take to create
an arctic "green" fleet and what role the state plays in this.
MOSCOW,
October 8. /TASS/. The diesel-fueled vessels, which work in the northern seas
and ruin the Arctic's fragile ecology system, should switch to using
ecology-friendly gas fuel. Experts told TASS, by doing so the water pollution
in development of the Northern Sea Route may reduce. However, specialists say,
this change is realistic in some remote future due to the missing
infrastructures and vessels on gas fuel.
The
Ministry of Natural Resources is working on a project to have vessels, working
in the Arctic, use gas instead of diesel in order to avoid the water pollution
there. Minister Sergei Donskoi called this project a priority task in
development of the water transport, however without quoting any time limits.
TASS writes
about how much time it may take Russia to have "green" fleet in the
Arctic and about the role the state may be playing in this project.
How transport affects environment
Experts say
as yet there is no threat of a total transport pollution of the northern seas,
but the situation may aggravate with development of navigation along the
Northern Sea Route.
"The
problem of pollution is important, but as yet it is at the initial stage. The
role of sea transport in the pollution may be essential at areas of active
navigation and fishing, like, for example, in the Barents Sea. However, with
development of the Northern Sea Route the problem would be vital, as splits of
fuel or oil would be possible in emergencies," press service of the Tomsk
Polytechnic University told TASS referring to specialists of the international
scientific-educational laboratory for carbon studies of the Arctic seas. The
scientists survey the modern state of the northern waters so that to forecast
future pollution from the transport.
The
Northern Sea Route’s Administration over nine months of the current year issued
more than 600 navigation certificates to vessels, and a year earlier - about
700. The authority told TASS they do not ask ship owners what fuel the vessels
are using, and nobody is filing any statistics about their influence on the
environment.
Director of
the Russian Arctic National Park Alexander Kirilov urged studies into
transport’s influence on the seas’ ecology systems. "North of Novaya
Zemlya and Russia’s northernmost archipelago - Franz-Josef Land - nobody has
ever studied emissions from vessels, but this must be done," he said.
Long route with one filling station
Representatives
of the shipping business say gas is more ecology-friendly and it is cheaper
than diesel or black oil, but even if vessels are modernized promptly, the only
place, where they can fill along almost 6,500 km of the Northern Sea Route is
the Sabetta port on the Kara Sea in Yamal. The company, involved in
organization of infrastructures for vessels’ LNG bunkers, is Gazprom Marine
Bunker, but the pilot project is now only for ports of the North-West Region.
"If we
look at the history of fleet, at first vessels used the energy of wind, then
the energy of coal, then everyone began using diesel fuel, and changing from
one fuel to another took from 30 to 50 years. Clearly, gas fields are more
accessible, and there are even projects, which work both on gas and on heavy
fuel - those, first of all, are gas tankers. But the key obstacle is the
infrastructures," Head of the Fleet Department of the Far East Shipping
Company (FESCO) Vladimir Chabrov told TASS.
According
to him, use of gas is more ecology-friendly and is cheaper, but in the Far East
not a single port can offer gas filling, while in the northern seas the only
port with this infrastructure is the Sabetta port.
In spring
2017, the first in the world gas tanker of the ice class Christophe de Margerie
arrived in Sabetta. It is one of the first 15 gas tankers for the Yamal LNG
project. "The technology of LNG filling is the first stone in the base of
the vessels modernization, including for the Arctic, as thus we shall have the
minimal burden on the environment," Governor of the Yamal-Nenets
Autonomous District Dmitry Kobylkin told TASS. "This is true future for
the global fleet."
Time and money
The market
players say the gas-filling infrastructure would appear in about 20 years.
FESCO’s top manager says there have been no orders as yet for vessels using
gas, and the gradual change from the heavy fuel to gas would be realistic in
the course of 20-25 years. "By that time, infrastructures would be ready,
and any vessel would be able to feel the bunker with gas, not diesel, at any
port," he said.
For ship owners
changing fuels systems on all the vessels, working in the Arctic, is not
profitable now.
"Clearly,
there is no sense in updating the system of a 25-year-old vessel to gas, gas
turbine," he said.
"It is
very costly and unreasonable. But further on, there would be new laws on
vessels’ ecology classes, and new vessels would be built."
Shipping
companies should be concerned about modernization of the fleet, and the
government should be responsible for the infrastructures, Director General of
the Murmansk Shipping Company (MSCO) Alexander Medvedev said. "Liquefied
natural gas may become a true alternative to liquid fuel.
Within two
years, it would be necessary to install special gas-fuel equipment, which
depending on the vessel size costs between five and ten million dollars. And
the government should support organization of the infrastructures. A mighty
stimulus for organization of this fleet would be development of the LNG bunker
stations at Russian ports," he said.
Organization
of the "green" fleet would require state support and support for the
LNG producers. Thus, it would be possible to begin using as soon as possible
ecology-friendly fuel, he added.
Source:
ITAR-TASS 08-10-2017
