Tata Steel has become the first Indian company to import cargo on bulk carrier that uses LNG as fuel instead of traditional VLSFO (Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil).
On July 24, cape vessel “MV Ubuntu Unity” berthed at Dharma port to discharge 1,65,700 tonnes of coal.
Going forward, Tata Steel plans to import one million tonnes of coking coal in FY24 from Australia in such LNG-powered vessels.
MV Ubuntu Unity loaded coal from Gladstone port and sailed off on July 1. She used LNG during its ballast leg (Tianjin to Gladstone) and a mix of LNG and traditional fuel during its laden leg (Gladstone to Dhamra). Carbon emission for this voyage was 1,800 tonnes lesser which is 35 per cent less as compared to traditional Baltic specification cape vessels.
LNG is a cleaner fuel as compared to heavy fuel oil used in bulk ships and with increasing availability of LNG, this fuel is considered as transition fuel on the path of zero carbon emissions.
Peeyush Gupta, Vice-President, Supply Chain, Tata Steel, said in 2021 the company was the first in the steel industry to deploy a ship powered by biofuel. It continued the decarbonation drive with 7 biofuel shipments in FY23.
In continuation to sustainability drive in this fiscal deployed an LNG-powered vessel for transportation of raw materials to India.
The company endeavours to perform 10 per cent of the total number of shipments for imports through alternate fuel powered vessels in this fiscal, it said.