Axpo Orders LNG Bunkering Vessel Capable of Ship-To-Truck Operations
Italian energy company Axpo has signed a 10-year deal to charter an LNG bunkering vessel which is expected to begin operations in 2025.
The agreement has been signed with Italy’s Gas and Heat SpA and the San Giorgio del Porto shipyard. The vessel will be built in the San Giorgio’s shipyard in Piombino, Italy, and will have a capacity of up to 7,500 cubic metres. In the future, the ship could also transport bio-LNG and ammonia.
Active off the coast of Naples, the vessel will provide ship-to-ship bunkering as well as ship-to-truck transfer of LNG to tanker trucks onshore, which then transport and distribute the LNG by road to final users.
The Italian vessel will feature a flexible multi-truck bunkering skid mounted onboard to enable the loading of several trucks simultaneously. Proprietary to Gas and Heat SpA, this will be the first use in Europe of the technology.
The project was set up in collaboration with the Italian government’s infrastructure and transport ministry, MIT, and the Central Tyrrhenian Sea and Naples port authority.