The government vowed to boost the eco-friendly liquefied natural gas vessel industry to prepare for the tightening of global regulations over the emissions of ships, officials said Wednesday.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy jointly said they would help shippers introduce the LNG-fueled ships and help shipbuilders increase their capacity to construct them. LNG ships have much lower sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.

This comes as part of follow-up measures of the government’s recent plan to improve the competitiveness of the shipbuilding and shipping industries.

Under the International Maritime Organization’s rules, all vessels around the world are mandated to use vessel oil that contains under 3.5 percent of sulfur oxide. The oil regulation, however, will be tightened to 0.5 percent starting from 2020.

Countries such as the US and Singapore have already introduced vessels that run on LNG rather than meet new oil regulations, citing cost and environmental benefits.

As of March this year, 77 LNG-fueled ships have been introduced by European countries and 85 new vessels are under construction.

The Korean government, however, runs only one LNG vessel so far, due mainly to the high cost and lack of relevant infrastructure, according to the Oceans Ministry.

With an aim to have 20 LNG vessels by 2025, the government said it would consider offering tax cuts for the related industry to promote the use of the LNG vessels.

To ensure enough infrastructure, the ministry will also gradually provide bunkering facilities in the five major ports in Korea. The largest port in Busan will have the first bunkering system by 2025 upon the private injection of 600 billion won ($514 million), it said.

The government added that it would support the local shipbuilders to develop the key parts of the LNG vessels. 

By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)