Page 19: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Q1 2015)

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The engine manufacturer MAN Diesel is developing their ME-

GI engines to burn ethane and recently have taken the ? rst orders for ethane-burning engines, with ? rst production units in 2016.

Logistics & Other Challenges

Another present constraint on the potential for ethane ex- ports from the U.S. is domestic production capacity; nearly all the capacity of US chemical companies to process ethane is being used, delaying the development of long-term demand.

Some relief could come from proposed ethane export ter- minals slated for the Houston Ship Channel and near Marcus

Hook, Pennsylvania, which are designed to provide an annual export capacity of more than 100 million barrels when com- pleted. Enterprise Product Partners is behind the Texas endeav- or, a fully refrigerated ethane export facility designed to have an aggregate loading rate of up to 240,000 barrels per day. It is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of 2016.

With individual VLECs costing in excess of US$100 million per unit, speculative ordering is unlikely in the present market.

Even though ethane gas is a potentially promising niche sec- tor, most owners are likely to seek to lessen the risk by having con? rmed export contracts, at least in the short term.

Patrick Janssens is Vice President for Global Gas Solutions at ABS; William Sember is a Senior Consultant Global Gas

Development at ABS.

LNG tank for ships with cradle