Building LNG-powered ships newest industry along U.S./Mexico border
Almost 10 years ago I predicted that manufacturing will come back to the US mainly because of the double effects of automation and cheap gas. I may have still underestimated the effects of the gas factor. Countries like China have to import energy expensively from around the world in order to produce whatever they produce. Their labor is not the cheapest anymore and the China factor has transformed to be an investment risk because of the well know issues China has as a society with the rule of law. Those first LNG fuelled vessels won’t remain alone – the entire Caribbean could be LNGified in short order. Bunkers, power production, land transport. Cheap LNG from the US would transform those economies. And the US would make a double buck on it. Manufacture the stuff and provide the fuel. Win / win.
Keppel AmFELS has built offshore drilling rigs and platforms here for decades. But the last few years have not been particularly kind to the offshore energy companies, which in the face of low oil prices and competition from shale, has delayed, canceled and scaled back projects.
