Op-Ed: LNG is the Future of Shipping's Energy Transition

The maritime industry’s energy transition is no longer a distant ambition - it is a present-day reality.

What was all-too-recently framed as a future challenge to tackle with a “silver bullet” solution, is now an immediate operational fact, calling for continuing action across the maritime industry.

With LNG-powered vessels ordered in 2025 accounting for 79% of alternative-fueled tonnage, up from 67% in 2024, the LNG-powered global fleet both operating and on-order, including LNG carriers, today represents 10% of the global fleet by dead weight tonnage. From a niche solution used by vessels in Northern Europe and the Americas in 2016, today, LNG is a globally utilized mainstream marine fuel. Its energy density, availability, lower costs of regulatory compliance and commercial optionality give it an advantage over other alternative marine fuels.

2025 was the year that the idea of LNG as a transition fuel - from fossil LNG through liquefied biomethane (liquefied renewable natural gas RNG) to liquefied e-methane - really gained momentum, with record amounts of RNG powering global shipping today and more growth expected.

Shipowners and operators continue to navigate a complex landscape. While the IMO continues to work on a practical and realistic forward emissions strategy, the introduction of regional frameworks such as FuelEU Maritime and the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) are adding significant operational complexity and cost of noncompliance.

Any global regulation must also be progressive as we move to the ultimate clean goals. This will allow vessel owners and operators to adopt low?carbon drop?in solutions like liquefied RNG. Liquefied RNG can be used within existing LNG-ready infrastructure, including bunkering, therefore it offers an immediate runway to lower emissions and allows for a progressive solution that can be commercially and financially acceptable.

The IEA’s May 2025 report, “Outlook for Biogas and Biomethane,” states that biomethane is an underutilized resource in the energy transition. It is currently growing at a rate of 20% per annum and the IEA estimates some one trillion cubic meters of biomethane could be produced every year using organic waste streams. This would be the equivalent of around 25% of the total global natural gas demand today, yet only around 5% of the total potential for biogas and biomethane production is currently being utilized.

Confirming the IEA’s analysis, Europe, North America and Asia are seeing particularly rapid uptake of liquified RNG, and major carriers have begun integrating liquefied RNG into their fuel mix, taking advantage of its drop?in compatibility with existing LNG?fueled vessels and bunkering infrastructure.

For example, in September 2025, Hapag-Lloyd and Shell signed a multi-year agreement for the supply of liquefied biomethane starting with immediate effect. Since 2024, Shell has expanded its offering to include liquefied biomethane, available at 22 strategic locations within its global LNG bunkering network. Further in September 2024, Gasum announced that they were supplying Hapag-Lloyd with liquefied biomethane to fulfil the requirements of their ZEMBA (Zero Emissions Maritime Buyers Alliance) tender. ZEMBA is a first-of-its-kind buyers’ group within the maritime sector with the mission to accelerate the commercial deployment of zero-emission shipping solutions. The liquefied biomethane was used in 2025 and will be throughout 2026 on a route between Rotterdam and Singapore.

Importantly, suppliers like Shell, Titan and Gasum, to name a few, have broadened their bunkering operations in Europe, adding to the global expansion of LNG bunkering infrastructure. At the time of writing, RNG is available in approximately 70 ports around the world, including Singapore and Rotterdam. That number will continue to increase as global regulatory issues surrounding mass balancing, chain of custody and product certification are resolved by regulators.

Within the LNG pathway, methane slip has been an issue. With technical efforts under way, the industry expects slip to be essentially resolved by 2030. Much of this can be seen in technical advancements initiated by the Methane Abatement in Maritime innovation initiative (MAMii) which has begun a process of piloting methane abatement technologies, with the ultimate aim of reducing and eliminating slip.

As we look ahead to 2026 and beyond, the maritime industry will continue to decarbonize and provide other environmental benefits. The use of LNG and methane products is also a major contributor to cleaner air as SOX and NOx are dramatically reduced and particulate matter is essentially eliminated. Further, the expanded use of renewable products is a boon to the world’s issues with waste and supports the circular economy.

The need for a single global decarbonization framework is clear and the framework must be goal-based and technology-neutral. It must allow some flexibility over time so companies can effectively plan their fleet modernization. We need a framework which is practical and realistic, incentivizing solutions that are scalable and investable. Against this framework, we know the maritime industry will continue to move forward and support mankind’s goal of continually improving our environment and the lives of those who reside on our planet.

Peter Keller is chairman of Sea-LNG.

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.