Vale develops design for multi-fuel bulkers

Vale, the Brazilian miner, has developed a design to include multi-fuel tanks on iron ore carriers.

The system, which could see the bulkers chartered by Vale adapted to store liquefied natural gas (LNG), methanol and ammonia, has been developed in partnership with Norwegian companies Brevik Engineering and Passer Marine and verified by the classification society DNV.

The multi-fuel tank design is part of Vale’s Ecoshipping program, developed to adopt new technologies and renew its fleet with the aim of reducing carbon emissions from shipping. A pilot project will be developed in the coming months for one of these ships.

According to Vale, a preliminary study for very large ore carriers in the 325,000 dwt guaibamax category estimated that emissions reductions can range from 40% to 80% when powered by methanol and ammonia, or up to 23% in the case of LNG.