USMRC LNG Bunkering Safety Course for Harvey Energy Crew
The United States Maritime Resource announced that its training partner, Harvey Gulf International Marine, recently launched the PSV Harvey Energy, the first LNG-fueled vessel to enter service in North America. In March, the PSV Harvey Energy began working on charter to Shell in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the vessel’s first successful LNG bunkering operation. Middletown, R.I.-based USMRC developed the LNG bunkering safety training course for Harvey Gulf in 2014 as it prepared to launch its first dual fuel offshore supply vessel.
Maritime Fuel of the Future: Training to an Uncertain Standard
Despite its unquestionable allure, LNG as a fuel carries with it as many risks as it does answers to the problems it promises to solve. As industry and OEM’s work to remove any doubt, the collaborative effort outpaces the slow-moving regulatory machine. Even as Lloyds Register predicts that LNG will reach a maximum 11% share of marine propulsion solutions in 2030, it also says that segments with higher proportion of small ships will see the highest LNG uptake. And, at the same time, says the global classification society in its recent paper entitled, Global Marine Fuel Trends 2030, the marine fuel mix for bulk, containers and tankers…
New LNG Bunkering Safety Training Course
The Maritime Simulation Institute in Middletown, R.I., is developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering safety training course, with the first session to begin in June for Harvey Gulf International Marine. The 45-hour bunkering course for Harvey’s LNG bunkering persons-in-charge (PIC) will be offered ahead of any U.S. Coast Guard regulations governing LNG bunkering. The first course likely will include Harvey Gulf master’s, mates and engineers. Courses will be offered at MSI facilities at Texas A&M outside Houston and at MFA, the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow, west of Boston.
