Can LNG clean up the cruise industry?
The pandemic shut down the cruise line industry for a year or more and not everyone was unhappy about it. Environmentalists have long criticized cruise ships for dumping sewage and other waste into the ocean and spewing pollutants — including greenhouse gases — into the atmosphere. The pandemic provided a respite of sorts for the oceans and the air.
Cruises, however, are back. With vaccination requirements and COVID-19 safety protocols in place, cruise ships again are sailing from ports such as Galveston. And the industry is taking steps to clean up its practices.
Cruise lines are turning to liquefied natural gas to power their ships. LNG is a cleaner alternative to the cheap, dirty bunker fuels that ships burned for years and even the low-sulfur petroleum fuels that ships are using to meet international standards that went into effect last year.
Carnival Cruise Lines, the Florida company that operates about 150 voyages a year out of Galveston, has three LNG-powered vessels either in service or on order. The Mardi Gras sailed on its maiden voyage from Port Canaveral, Fla., on July 31 . Carnival Celebration is scheduled to enter service from Miami late next year and a yet-to-be-named cruise ship is on order for 2023.
Disney Cruise Line, which also operates out of Galveston, has three LNG-fueled ships under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany through 2025. The first, called the Disney Wish, is scheduled to embark on its maiden voyage in June.
The broader shipping industry — cargo as well as cruise lines — is shifting to cleaner fuels under stricter pollution standards adopted by the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ marine regulator. The IMO effectively banned the high-sulfur bunker fuel, made from the dregs of the refining process, and set a deadline for the industry to cut carbon emissions in half by 2050 compared to 2008 levels.
LNG-fueled ships represent just a fraction of the cruise industry’s fleet — Carnival, for example, with its three ships — and ultimately, experts say, cruise ships could be powered by methanol, biofuels or hydrogen to meet the requirements of a low-carbon world. But the technologies that would make these alternatives widely available are still being developed, the costs of these fuels are still high.
The adoption of LNG by the crude industry again shows the potential of natural gas as a transition fuel as the world tries to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Much of success in lowering or limiting greenhouse gas emissions has come from the replacement of dirtier fossil fuels, such as coal, with natural gas. As far as shipping goes, LNG emits 10 to 20 percent less carbon dioxide than lowsulfur fuel oil.
Natural gas is still a fossil fuel, and still emits carbon dioxide when burned, whether to generate electricity or power a truck. And the release of methane — the main component of natural gas — from drilling operations or leaks in pipelines remains a real impediment to natural gas’ future as a transition fuel. Methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas.
The shipping industry, nonetheless, offers another market for natural gas, which is already enjoying strong demand and higher prices. Natural gas prices are approaching $5 per million British thermal units, more than double the prices of a year ago. Supplies are tight, and demand is only expected to grow as the winter approaches. Whether natural gas has a long-term future in the energy transition remains to be seen. But the short-term for natural gas and LNG producers is looking pretty good.