New fueling technology used for Carnival Cruise's Mardi Gras ship
PORT CANAVERAL, Fla. - The Carnival Mardi Gras ship, set to begin sailing from Port Canaveral, will be the first cruise ship in America to be powered by liquid natural gas, or LNG.
In its liquid state, LNG is a more environmentally-friendly and less expensive fuel choice.
"LNG in my opinion is the future fuel for marine transportation. It is a domestically sourced fuel that we have in abundance in the U.S. The vessel you see here carries 4,000 cubic meters. That is about one-million gallons of LNG and that will be enough to supply two cruise ships," said Chad Verret, president of Q-LNG transport.
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Verret said they get the fuel from Georgia and it takes six to eight hours to finish loading up the ship.
"We load through the upper manifold. On the other side I will show you the lower graded level right here is what we connect a hose, and we will pass the hose through here to the cruise ship," Verret said.
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Captain John Murray, the Canaveral Port Authority CEO, said it’s smooth sailing from there.
"We are excited to be the first and it’s always nice to get ahead of the curve," Murray said.
Murray added the fuel can also be used for things beyond the marine industry, like the space sector.
"The two rocket engines that are being designed right now by both Blue Origin and SpaceX are both LNG burning rockets, rocket engines. So, at some point, there will be a significant demand for LNG and it will come from not just the marine sector but also the space side," Murray said.
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