In November last year the Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiG) signed a chartering agreement for two gas tankers to transport liquified natural gas (LNG) from the United States to the terminal in Świnoujście. The vessels belong to Norwegian company Knutsen OAS Shipping and will start sailing in 2023. PGNiG's contracts for US LNG include deliveries of about 9.3 BCM per year, after regasification.
This deal has revived the subject of plans to build a Polish fleet of gas tankers. Since we have our own ever-expanding gas terminal and plans to import increasing quantities of LNG from across the world, having a fleet of such vessels would be most justified. The recently presented plan for reviving Poland's shipbuilding industry by the Forum Okrętowe Employers' Association assumes that one of its three pillars is the establishment of its own LNG fleet. Especially that, with the launch of the terminal in Świnoujście, its further expansion and the planned construction of a floating LNG terminal in the Bay of Gdańsk, Poland is becoming one of the major importers of this cargo in Europe. Currently, these deliveries are being carried out by foreign carriers.
The concluded long-term contracts and the maintenance of spot supplies indicate that from 2024 onwards, PGNiG's orders will reach more than 12 BCM of gas, so only slightly less than the total natural gas imports to Poland in 2019, namely 14.85 BCM.
According to the authors of the shipyard plan, freight rates for transporting such a demanding cargo as LNG, transported at a temperature of -163 °C, are very high - approx. 30% of the cargo value. Over a 30-year period, this will amount to around USD 15 billion.
- At the moment, this money is flowing into the pockets of foreign shipowners. There is absolutely no reason why it should not find its way into Polish hands, such as PŻM, and make a contribution to the Szczecin maritime economy, which has been in decline in recent years. For approximately 10% of this amount, a fleet of LNG carriers could be built, fully covering Poland's transport requirements. The establishment of Poland's own fleet of LNG carriers would make our country independent of foreign carriers, which would strengthen the country's energy security and stabilise the price of transport - the study reads.
This fleet would inherently have secured, long-term transport orders, which would guarantee its financial stability and further potential expansion. The construction of these vessels would - as the authors of the report assert - be a huge developmental boost for the entire industry. It would enhance innovation in our economy - for example, mastering the technology of building large, insulated tanks for transporting liquefied gas at low temperatures. It would also make us less dependent on suppliers in the Far East, by shortening the supply chain, which is the long-term plan of the entire European Union. In addition, as the authors of the proposal point out, Poland could become a European centre for the construction of LNG carriers, providing several years of employment for all companies that operate in the Polish shipbuilding industry.
Plans include the involvement of a number of actors in this endeavour. The owner of such vessels could be the Polska Żegluga Morska (Polsteam), the contractor Remontowa Holding, and the subcontractor Grupa Przemysłowa Baltic (Baltic Industrial Group) (including the Gdańsk Shipyard), which has recently invested in modern production lines, as well as other companies from Gdańsk, Szczecin and Gdynia. Depending on the size of the hulls, they could be assembled at the slipways in Gdansk, at the Wulkan slipway in Szczecin or at the docks in Gdynia. Bearing in mind that LNG tankers are in the top league when it comes to cargo ships, Poland as their manufacturer would then find itself at the global top with regard to these technologies, possibly even overcoming the dominance of Asian shipyards.
Where would the funding for the construction of a fleet of gas tankers come from? According to the authors of the programme for the reconstruction of Polish shipyards, it would be financed from the so-called RRF instrument - in May last year, the European Commission prepared a package of measures to rebuild European economies affected by the crisis related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of them is the EU recovery Instrument called Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), under which financial resources are to be allocated to the economies of the European Union countries.
The shipbuilding industry has traditionally been one of the leading topics of the Gdynia Maritime Economy Forum, whose 20th anniversary edition will be held on October 8, 2021.
Article developed with Namiary na Morze i Handel magazine
phot. Namiary na Morze i Handel magazine
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