GAC Bunker Fuels and Texas-based LNG solutions company Pilot have executed a heads of sgreement for the provision of LNG bunker in the proposed Galveston LNG Bunker Port terminal project, GAC said Oct. 20.
Under the agreement, Pilot will provide LNG as a marine fuel to GAC on a DES basis for its customers in the complex, which includes the ports of Houston, Galveston and Texas City, as well as Galveston Offshore Lightering Area on a long-term basis.
"The Galveston LNG Bunker Port will provide the LNG to supply GAC's growing market for cleaner marine fuel, particularly as its customers seek economic ways to comply with tightening emissions regulations, including IMO 2020," Pilot CEO Jonathan Cook said in the press statement.
In September, GAC brokered the first non-US flagged vessel to bunker LNG in the US, at Jacksonville port, for Sweden's Fure Ven vessel.
GAC Bunker Fuels is the world's only bunkering company with an integrated ISO 9001,14001 and 45001 certification for bunker procurement that also covers LNG as a marine fuel, according to the statement.
"This agreement with Pilot will allow us to grow our portfolio of alternative fuels, with LNG as the cleanest and most cost-effective way for shippers to meet compliance," said GAC's Global Director Nicholas Browne.
In July, Pilot announced it would develop a dedicated LNG bunker terminal on Pelican Island, Texas and will be in operation by 2024, with a final investment decision due in 2021.
