MIAMI.- For the first time in its history, the Port of Miami supplied liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel to a cargo ship that docked at its terminals this weekend, PortMiami reported Monday.
The thousand-foot (305-meter) long “Seaboard Blue” cargo ship refueled this Sunday in PortMiami and became the first container ship to receive this alternative fuel -LNG- in this port considered as the entrance to the Americas and one of the largest in the world.
The oil company Shell used one of its Q4000 fuel barges to fill the “Seaboard Blue” tank with LNG before its first voyage to Honduras and Guatemala.
This container ship, which can sail on both diesel and LNG, was the “first of its kind in the world” to carry out this conversion.
Seabord Marine, owner of the ship, “the shift to greener fuel sources is exemplary and an important step towards our goal of maintaining Miami-Dade as a county at the forefront of sustainability,” said the county mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava.
Levine Cava noted that “these investments continue to position PortMiami as an industry leader and help ensure our community is prepared for the future.”
For his part, Eddie González, President and CEO of Seabord Marine, said that “Seaboard Blue” is a “key new component for the transformation of the Seaboard fleet”.
“The recent purchase of this LNG-powered vessel not only demonstrates Seaboard Marine’s continued commitment to sustainability, but also to providing reliable service to our customers,” he added.
PortMiami is Miami-Dade County’s second-largest economic engine, contributing $43 billion annually to the local economy and supporting more than 334,500 jobs in South Florida.
Last year, more than 9 million tons of goods passed through this port, where infrastructure improvements worth more than a billion dollars were made, including increasing the depth of the channel 52 feet (almost 16 meters) and daily rail service to the pier.