Europe backs LNG ship fuel option

The European TEN-T (Trans-European Network for Transport) programme recently announced funding for several major projects designed to encourage setting up of LNG bunkering facilities for ships in Europe.
As well as the Gothenburg and Rotterdam scheme previously mentioned, which will receive nearly €34.3 million, representing 20% of total costs, five other schemes will receive funding.
A study to establish a flexible LNG bunkering value chain on the Spanish Mediterranean coast for vessels in the Mediterranean basin, will be funded to €1,044,000, covering 50% of total costs. A scheme to develop an LNG hub in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, focusing on design of facilities, infrastructure and procedures with a view towards LNG supply to vessels navigating on the Atlantic corridor, will also eceive 50% of total costs, i.e. €602,000. This project is included in the ‘Motorway of the Seas Western Europe’ scheme.
A plan to look into the feasibility of providing LNG bunkering facilities in Roscoff (France) and Santander (Spain), under the name Seagas, which will enable ferry operator Brittany Ferries and the two port authorities to decide on whether or not to use LNG as fuel, is to be funded to the tune of €1.04 million, again 50% of the total costs. This is of particular interest as it is likely to lead to LNG-fuelled newbuilds or retrofits to existing ferries.
An LNG study for ships operating on the Motorway of the Baltic Sea, part of a global project to find solutions to the 2015 Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) limits in the Baltic Sea, will receive over €23 million, 30% of total costs. This project includes implementation of an LNG bunker infrastructure for Lysekil, on the west coast of Sweden, plus full-scale pilot technical studies, in commercial vessels operating in the Baltic and North Seas. It aims tol establish a complete LNG supply and transport infrastructure.
The LNG Masterplan for Rhine-Main-Danube, looking at both LNG as fuel for inland vessels and as cargo transported on waterways and distributed via inland ports, consists of feasibility studies, concepts, technical trials and pilot deployments of vessels and terminals. It involves 33 companies and organisations from 12 EU Member States, and is recommended for TEN-T funding of 50%, namely €40,260,000.
Source: Port Strategy