Family Transport Co in LNG trial

PTT executive vice president Nattachart Jaruchinda said the LNG was coming from its small plant in Rayong province and being sold to the boat operator for Bt17 a litre, 60 per cent of what diesel costs.

Family Transport manager Chavalit Mathayaprapas said the company retrofitted two of its 70 boats with LNG engines in the middle of last year.

It is also building an Bt80-million LNG station in Bangkok's Ramkhamhaeng area to distribute the gas to boats. Construction is expected to be completed about the middle of next month.

The station will have the capacity to distribute enough LNG to equal 50,000 litres of diesel per day.

Chavalit said using LNG saved the company 20 per cent on oil costs and that the trial involving the two Family Transport boats would last one year, in order to allow the company to fine-tune their systems to save more than 30 per cent.

The cost of an LNG tank is high, about Bt400,000, but Chavalit said if the trial proved successful in terms of saving money, the company would retrofit all of its other boats with an LNG system.

The company believes PTT can ensure a sufficient supply of LNG, as PTT plans to import the gas in the near future.