Hong Kong Salvage & Towage Services Limited has held a ceremony to commemorate the commissioning of the country’s first two locally licensed LNG diesel dual-fuel tugboats.
The two recently commissioned tugs, LNG Sentinel I and LNG Sentinel II, have an overall length of 42 metres, a beam of 16 metres, a gross tonnage of 1,275 tonnes, two electric motor-driven azimuth thrusters with a combined capacity of 6,000 kilowatts (kW), and a maximum speed of 14 knots.
To support the development needs and enhance the long-term competitiveness of the marine industry, the Hong Kong government promulgated the Action Plan on Maritime and Port Development Strategy in December 2023.
This action plan reportedly outlined four directions and 10 strategies, including propelling the development of a green port towards a zero-carbon target by studying the feasibility of providing green fuel bunkering for local vessels and ocean-going vessels and promulgating an action plan for Hong Kong’s development into a green maritime fuel-bunkering centre this year.
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Deputy Director of Marine, Shi Qiang said: “The Government is committed to transforming the city into a green port and promoting the use of more environmentally friendly new fuels with less or zero-carbon emissions to replace marine petroleum fuels commonly used by vessels nowadays.
“The commissioning of the first two locally licensed tugs equipped with dual-fuel engine systems marks a new milestone that helps encourage more local vessels to use new fuels and move towards the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s target of reaching net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping by or around 2050.”
