Fishing fleet of Grupo Maros, Port of Mazatlan
At the Enmar Maritime Business Meeting held in Mexico’s resort town of Mazatlán, Sinaloa last week, it was revealed that the shipbuilding industry in the state if giving consideration to adopting natural gas as a substitute for fossil fuels for shrimp boats and other fishing vessels, with the aim of contributing to environmental care.
As reported by Terra, discussion at the Natural Gas Forum focused on the advantages arising from switching to natural gas and also looked at the difficulties of adopting a new fuel, particularly to an area that does not yet have pipeline gas. In yet another version of chicken and egg, designing new vessels for natural gas propulsion is dependent on availability of fuel for which there is presently no demand.
The pipeline will run from the U.S. State of Arizona south through several Mexican states before reaching Sinaloa. However, once in place, the fishing fleets and other transportation users will have access to a viable, reliable alternative to diesel.
René Sánchez Medina, director of Industrial Market and Energy Solutions for Gas Natural Fenosa in Mexico, told the gathering the use of LNG as a marine fuel is gaining momentum in Spain and elsewhere, informing the meeting: “Natural gas is beneficial to the environment, because we have practically a decrease of emissions of gaseous pollutants, such as ozone, which reach 96 per cent and carbon monoxide, 95 per cent”.
Source: Terra
