BHP to Use LNG-Powered Vessels to Ship Iron Ore to China
September 03 2020 - 7:30PM
Dow Jones News
By David Winning
SYDNEY--BHP Group Ltd. said it would use a fleet of new vessels
powered by liquefied natural gas to transport iron ore from Western
Australia and China from 2022, part of efforts to lessen its
contribution to global warming.
BHP said the award of a tender for five LNG-fuelled Newcastlemax
bulk carriers to Eastern Pacific Shipping aimed to bring down
greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30% per voyage. The contract
with EPS will last five years, and BHP said it expected to award
the LNG bunkering supply deal in October.
Vandita Pant, BHP's chief commercial officer, said the
LNG-fuelled vessels would virtually eliminate sulfur oxide
emissions and significantly reduce carbon dioxide and nitrogen
oxide emissions.
"The tender marks a progressive shift for BHP and the broader
mining and shipping industry and is a significant step toward
lowering greenhouse-gas emissions in the 1.5 billion-ton iron ore
seaborne market," she said.
BHP released the LNG-fuelled bulk carrier tender in July last
year.
"The LNG bunkering time charter contract, with a total cost of
ownership less than a conventionally fuelled Newcastlemax, will
enable BHP to manage the fuel supply risk, build LNG operations
capability internally and capture operating expenditure benefits
through optimization of voyage operations and fuel utilization,"
Ms. Pant said.
BHP produced 248 million metric tons of iron ore in the year
through June, 4% more than in the 2019 fiscal year. China is the
world's largest buyer of the steelmaking commodity, importing
around three in every five cargoes of iron ore traded by sea.
Write to David Winning at david.winning@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 03, 2020 19:15 ET (23:15 GMT)
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