In November 2024, for the first time in over 130 years, the slopes of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji remained bare well into winter. This environmental anomaly serves as a stark parallel to the maritime industry’s reliance on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). While LNG looks clean to the eye, the atmosphere reacts to what we actually release, not what we intend.

In this episode, Capt. Raghu Sharma explores the "inconvenient chemistry" of LNG. We move past the marketing slogans to look at the engineering data that defines the true cost of our "bridge fuel".

• The Methane Slip Reality: Why the FUMES campaign found an average methane slip of 6.4%—double the figures used by many regulators.
• The 20-Year Horizon: Why the GWP-20 metric matters more for the weather we sail in today than the 100-year projections often favored by policymakers.
• The Coal Comparison: A look at Cornell University research suggesting LNG could have a 33% higher climate impact than coal over a 20-year period when full supply chain leaks are included.
• The Upstream Shadow: The hidden energy cost of cooling gas to -160°C and the leaks that occur long before the fuel reaches a ship.
• Technological Hope: The 2025 sea trials of a new methane oxidation catalyst that achieved a 98% reduction in slip.

"Shipping does not need slogans. It needs accurate data, transparent reporting, and the discipline to act on both. Read the full analysis at The DeepDraft: https://thedeepdraft.com/2025/10/17/when-the-snow-fades-from-mount-fuji-why-lngs-green-bridge-is-not-what-it-seems/