WO2005061367A1

WO2005061367A1 - Fuel transportation

Info

Publication number: WO2005061367A1
Application number: PCT/AU2004/001809
Authority: WO
Inventors: Glen Colaco
Original assignee: SARDONYX Corp Pty Ltd
Current assignee: SARDONYX Corp Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2003-12-23
Filing date: 2004-12-23
Publication date: 2005-07-07
Anticipated expiration: 2006-06-23
Also published as: AU2003271351B1

Abstract

A method of supplying a first shipping port with liquid fuel for distribution or sale, the method comprising the steps of: filling the fuel tank(s) of a ship berthed at a second shipping port and destined for the first shipping port before voyaging onwards to a refuelling port for refuelling, which refuelling port may be the second shipping port, with an amount of liquid fuel in excess of that required for the ship to voyage to the first shipping port and, subsequently, to the refuelling port; and after voyaging to the first shipping port, transferring at least part of the excess amount of liquid fuel from the fuel tank(s) of the ship to a suitable storage means for distribution or sale.

Description

FUEL TRANSPORTATION

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates broadly to the transportation of liquid fuel between shipping ports, for example, the transportation of bunker fuel between countries.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Fossil fuels are a necessary part of modern society, and are considered a requirement for developed and developing countries. While some countries have large amounts of this natural resource, many countries must import fossil fuels, particularly liquid fuels, to meet their needs. These fuels are imported from countries which have liquid fuel resources in excess of their requirements.

Conventionally, liquid fuel has been transported between shipping ports by means of dedicated tanker vessels. These vessels are loaded with fuel at one port, and unloaded at a distant port, generally in a different country. International shipping of fuel in this manner carries significant risk, primarily due to fluctuations in the price of liquid fuel. The fuel transporter bears the risk that by the time the liquid fuel reaches its destination, the profit to be gained from selling the fuel no longer covers the cost of the carriage.

The transportation of liquid fuel in this manner involves a number of significant costs which hinder the free flow of fuel to cities which import fuel to meet their requirements. These costs include but are not limited to the chartering of a dedicated tanker vessel, the fuel required for the tanker's voyage, and port costs (including pilot costs, tug costs, berth hire, tonnage dues etc.).

The high costs of transporting fuel mean that dedicated tanker vessels are not chartered until a fuel transportation contract is concluded, ensuring specific amounts of fuel are transported to specific ports. The high fuel transport costs also encourage countries to only import fuel in line with predicted demand. It is not uncommon for actual demand to exceed predicted demand, resulting in fuel shortages and consequently high fuel prices. There is therefore a need for a cost-effective method of transporting fuel that enables greater advantage to be taken of the price disparity between various international ports and provides a more flexible method of matching supply and demand of liquid fuel. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of supplying a first port with liquid fuel for distribution or sale, the method comprising the steps of;

(i) filling the fuel tank(s) of a ship berthed at a second port and destined for said first port before voyaging onwards to a refuelling port for refuelling, which refuelling port may be the said second port, with an amount of liquid fuel in excess of that required for said ship to voyage to said first port and, subsequently, to said refuelling port; and

(ii) after voyaging to said first port, transferring at least part of said excess amount of liquid fuel from the fuel tank(s) of said ship to a suitable storage means for distribution or sale.

Where the ship has both ballast and fuel tank(s), it is preferable that the method further comprises the step of filling at least one of the ballast tanks with liquid fuel.

Where the ship has a plurality of separate fuel tanks, preferably the step of filling the fuel tanks includes the step of filling one or more of the plurality of fuel tanks with a first liquid fuel, and filling one or more of the remaining fuel tanks with a second liquid fuel.

Where the ship has both ballast and fuel tanks, the step of filling the fuel tanks preferably includes the step of filling at least one of the fuel tanks with a first liquid fuel, and the step of filling the ballast tanks preferably includes the step of filling at least one of the ballast tanks with a second liquid fuel.

The method of the present invention preferably further includes the step of storing the transferred fuel in a bunker barge or on-shore tank.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method of supplying a first port with liquid fuel for distribution or sale, the method comprising the steps of:

(i) providing a ship having voyaged to said first port from a second port at which its fuel tank(s) were filled and which is destined for a refuelling port for refuelling, which refuelling port may be the said second port, with an amount of liquid fuel in excess of that required for said ship to voyage to said first port and, subsequently, to said refuelling port; and

(ii) transferring at least part of said excess amount of liquid fuel from the fuel tank(s) of said ship to a suitable storage means at said first port for distribution or sale.

Where the ship has both ballast and fuel tanks, the method preferably comprises the further step of transferring an amount of liquid fuel from at least one of the ballast tanks.

Where the ship has a plurality of separate fuel tanks, the step of transferring an amount of liquid fuel includes the step of transferring a first liquid fuel from one or more of the plurality of fuel tanks, and transferring a second liquid fuel from one or more of the remaining fuel tanks.

Where the ship has both ballast and fuel tanks, the step of transferring an amount of liquid fuel from the fuel tanks preferably includes the step of transferring a first liquid fuel from at least one of the fuel tanks, and the step of transferring an amount of liquid fuel from the ballast tanks preferably includes the step of transferring a second liquid fuel from at least one of the ballast tanks.

Preferably, the method of the second aspect of the present invention further includes the step of storing the transferred fuel in a bunker barge or on-shore tank.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, ships travelling between international ports use the excess capacity within their fuel tanks to transport fuel. The methods of the present invention are advantageously used by cargo or other ships which make regular and predictable voyages between ports.

In general, ships travel on a route that involves stopping at one or more ports at which the ships can be refuelled. Generally, at each refuelling port the ships are only loaded with sufficient fuel to reach the next refuelling port, with an appropriate safety margin. Between refuelling ports, the ships may stop at a number of ports at which they will not refuel, but will unload or load cargo or passengers. Because the distance travelled by the ship (and hence the fuel consumed by the ship) between refuelling ports is not constant, on many legs of voyages ships have partially empty fuel tanks. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, ships take on more fuel than they need to reach the next port at which they refuel. At least part of this excess fuel is transferred to storage means at a port before the ship reaches its next refuelling port. A ship using the present invention may make a return trip from port A to port B. The ship would take on more fuel than necessary to get from A to B and back again, and would sell the excess fuel at port B. The fuel transport costs from port A to port B are reduced because the ship would be travelling that route for purposes other than transporting fuel (e.g. it could be transporting cargo, the transport of the cargo being the primary purpose for the voyage).

A large proportion of ships have more than one type of fuel tank, as well as ballast tanks. Ships often have tanks for bunker fuel as well as tanks for diesel fuel. The ballast tanks are most often filled with salt water, although some ships have "heeling" tanks filled with freshwater. These ballast or heeling tanks may be emptied of water and filled with liquid fuel. This increases the fuel carrying capacity of the ship beyond merely the excess capacity in the ship's fuel tanks. It is therefore possible, using the present invention, for a ship that will consume all of the fuel it is able to carry in its fuel tanks to also carry fuel for subsequent transferral to a suitable storage means for sale or distribution. Where ballast or heeling tanks are used to carry liquid fuel, some modification to the ship may be required to enable fuel to be transported in these tanks. Where the diesel fuel tanks are used to carry excess fuel that is not diesel fuel, they may need to be cleaned.

The majority of large cargo ships carry their fuel in a number of separate fuel tanks. For example, a number of tanks may be allocated for carrying bunker fuel, and a number of tanks may be allocated for carrying diesel fuel. On shorter voyages between refuelling ports, many of these tanks remain empty as the ship doesn't need to fill these tanks to voyage to the next port at which it can refuel. Where a ship will be travelling between refuelling ports with one or more empty tanks, the present invention may be employed to fill those tanks with fuel that the ship does not normally consume. For example, most cargo ships consume bunker fuel, a comparatively unrefined liquid fuel. Where one or more bunker fuel tanks in a cargo ship will remain unused, these tanks may be cleaned and filled with comparatively refined diesel fuel or unleaded petrol. This diesel fuel or unleaded petrol can be transferred to storage means at one of the ports at which the ships stops on its way to its next refuelling port. Of course, in the case of diesel fuel, it may be more convenient to carry the excess diesel fuel in unused diesel fuel tanks. Where the ship has both ballast (including heeling) and fuel tanks (carrying diesel and bunker fuel), different fuels can be carried in each of these tanks. For example, the ship may carry bunker fuel in its bunker fuel tanks, diesel fuel in its diesel fuel tanks, and unleaded petrol in it ballast tanks. The physical separation of the ballast, diesel fuel and bunker fuel tanks enables greater versatility in the number of different fuels that may be simultaneously transported by a single ship. As indicated above, some modification to the ship may be required to enable it to simultaneously carry more than one type of liquid fuel.

Once at a port at which the fuel is to be sold, the fuel can be transferred from the fuel or ballast tanks into a bunker barge or an on-shore storage tank. The fuel may be transferred directly to other ships that require refuelling, or may be loaded into trucks for distribution to areas away from the port.

EXAMPLE The preferred embodiment of the present invention may be easily understood with reference to the following example.

A ship carrying cargo is scheduled to carry consumer electronics goods from Singapore to Australia. In Australia, the electronics goods are to be removed from the ship and replaced with refined steel for transport back to Singapore.

The ship has the capacity to carry 2,300 metric tonnes of bunker fuel in 4 bunker fuel tanks, 200 metric tonnes of diesel fuel in 1 diesel fuel tank, but only requires 1,800 metric tonnes of bunker fuel to travel from Singapore to Australia and back again, with adequate safety margin. The ship has 23 ballast tanks, each able to carry 400 metric tonnes of fluid.

In Singapore, all of the ship's bunker fuel tanks are filled with bunker fuel. Two of the ship's ballast tanks are filled with diesel oil, and one of the ballast tanks is filled with unleaded petrol.

In Australia, 500 metric tonnes of bunker fuel, 800 metric tonnes of diesel oil and 400 metric tonnes of unleaded petrol is transferred from the ship to a bunker barge. The electronics goods are replaced with the refined steel, and the ship makes its way back to Singapore.

Now that the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in some detail it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the fuel transportation method of the preferred embodiment has at least the following advantages: 1. Fuel may be transported between ports without the need to charter a fuel tanker.

2. Smaller amounts of fuel may be transported more readily, enabling quicker and more effective exploitation of the disparity of fuel pricing between ports.

3. Fuel shortages at ports can be minimised due to the increased ability to regularly transport fuel.

It should be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that the invention described herein is susceptible to various alterations and modifications other than those specifically described. For example, while in the preferred embodiment fuel is transported by way of a cargo ship, the fuel may equally advantageously be carried by a passenger ship. Any type of liquid fuel may be transported by means of the present invention.

All such variations and modifications are to be considered within the scope of the present invention the nature of which is to be determined from the foregoing description.

It is to be understood that any acknowledgment of prior art in this specification is not an admission that this prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in the art.

Claims

1. A method of supplying a first port with liquid fuel for distribution or sale, the method comprising the steps of: (i) filling the fuel tank(s) of a ship berthed at a second port and destined for said first port before voyaging onwards to a refuelling port for refuelling, which refuelling port may be the said second port, with an amount of liquid fuel in excess of that required for said ship to voyage to said first port and, subsequently, to said refuelling port; and (ii) after voyaging to said first port, transferring at least part of said excess amount of liquid fuel from the fuel tank(s) of said ship to a suitable storage means for distribution or sale.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein where the ship has both ballast and fuel tank(s), the method further comprises the step of filling at least one of the ballast tanks with liquid fuel.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein where the ship has a plurality of separate fuel tanks, the step of filling the fuel tanks includes the step of filling one or more of the plurality of fuel tanks with a first liquid fuel, and filling one or more of the remaining fuel tanks with a second liquid fuel.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein where the ship has both ballast and fuel tanks, the step of filling the fuel tanks includes the step of filling at least one of the fuel tanks with a first liquid fuel, and the step of filling the ballast tanks includes the step of filling at least one of the ballast tanks with a second liquid fuel.

5. A method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the storage means is a bunker barge or on-shore tank.

6. A method of supplying a first port with liquid fuel for distribution or sale, the method comprising the steps of:

(i) providing a ship having voyaged to said first port from a second port at (ii) which its fuel tank(s) were filled and which is destined for a refuelling port for refuelling, which refuelling port may be the said second port, with an amount of liquid fuel in excess of that required for said ship to voyage to said first port, and, subsequently, to said refuelling port; and (iii) transferring at least part of said excess amount of liquid fuel from the fuel tank(s) of said ship to a suitable storage means at said first port for distribution or sale.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6 wherein where the ship has both ballast and fuel tanks, the method comprises the further step of transferring an amount of liquid fuel from at least one of the ballast tanks.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6 or 7 wherein where the ship has a plurality of separate fuel tanks, the step of transferring an amount of liquid fuel includes the step of transferring a first liquid fuel from one or more of the plurality of fuel tanks, and transferring a second liquid fuel from one or more of the remaining fuel tanks.

9. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein where the ship has both ballast and fuel tanks, the step of transferring an amount of liquid fuel from the fuel tanks includes the step of transferring a first liquid fuel from at least one of the fuel tanks, and the step of transferring an amount of liquid fuel from the ballast tanks includes the step transferring a second liquid fuel from at least one of the ballast tanks.

10. A method as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 9 wherein the storage means is a bunker barge or on-shore tank.