- Europe’s largest seaport expects throughput of LNG as a bunker fuel to increase to around 30,000 tonnes this year, up from 9,500 tonnes in 2018.
- The growth in bunkering fuel is part of the rapidly increasing LNG traffic in Rotterdam, where total LNG throughput doubled to almost 4 million tonnes in the first half of 2019.
- This facility has already pumped the equivalent of more than 60 billion terawatt hour of gas into the European network this year.
- The facility currently has a storage capacity of 12 billion cubic meters (bcm), and late last year said it was exploring a market interest in increasing this by 2 bcm.
According to an article published in Ship and Bunker, liquefied natural gas could grab a 10% share of the Rotterdam bunker market within six years.
Increase in bunker supply
Although 9,500 metric tonnes (mt) of LNG bunker were supplied in the port last year, the
the figure should reach 30,000 mt for 2019, port director Maud Eijgendaal was reported saying by Reuters.
First, half-year sales of LNG bunkers were over 11,000 mt. “If we keep up this growth, we can reach a million tonnes by 2025-2030, which would be around 10% of all bunker fuels sold in Rotterdam,“ Eijgendaal was quoted as saying.
Addition of bunker tankers in operation
By next year, the Dutch transshipment and bunkering hub should have seven or eight LNG
bunker tankers in operation.
“That is a strong signal that there is a lot of demand.“ Demand comes from all segments: cruisers, tankers, container ships, dredgers; big and small. “It looks promising,“ she said.
A viable industry
LNG is seen in the industry as a viable alternative to oil-derived fuel oil which is the most
the common form of bunker fuel used by the global shipping fleet. And while the lack of supply infrastructure for LNG marine fuel is a block on its development, northwest Europe is seen as having strong potential for demand growth.
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Source: Ship&Bunker
