Trinidad eyes clean fuel bunkering as methanol ship named

Trinidad and Tobago has its sights on becoming a hub for clean fuel bunkering, Prime Minister Keith Rowley said at a naming ceremony for a methanol-fuelled ship.

Proman Stena Bulk, a joint venture between Swiss-headquartered methanol producer Proman and global tanker operator Stena Bulk, anointed its first newbuild IMOIIMeMAX methanol-fuelled 49,900-dwt vessel the Stena Pro Patria.

The vessel, the first of four ordered, was delivered in June 2022. The remaining three ships are expected for delivery by 2024.

At a ceremony on November 23, Prime Minister Rowley highlighted the country’s potential as a hub for clean fuel bunkering.

“We are one of the largest producers and exporters of methanol in the world, and we happen geographically to be on a place at the tip of South America, East of the Panama Canal where all these vessels are being encouraged to change their fuel consumption from the dirty fuel to clean fuel – and that fuel is available in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.

“What we are aiming to do is to make Trinidad and Tobago a major refuelling hub for oceangoing vessels that can be refuelled by clean fuel.”

Proman operates 14 world-scale petrochemical plants and natural gas production facilities in Trinidad and Tobago, with an installed downstream production capacity nearing 24,000 tonnes per day.