Danish Port Gets EU Funding for LNG Bunkering
Port of Hirtshals in Denmark will receive over EUR1 million a pilot construction of the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank and bunker, co-financed by EU’s TEN-T Program.
The pilot project will see construction of a 500 cubic meter LNG storage tank and bunkering facility partnership with the European Commission's Innovation and Network's Executive Agency.
The new facilities will provide LNG for ships both within and outside the EU, as well as regional consumers including road transport.
If the pilot is successful, a larger LNG bunker will be developed to supply both marine and road transport with LNG fuel.
The project's outcomes are expected to serve as best practice to other ports in northern Europe and encourage consumers to switch to LNG. It will also be the first step towards creating a robust LNG supply infrastructure in the region. The project is to be completed by 30 June 2015.
A similar project was previously announced mid-last year, which at the time was also to be Denmark's first LNG facility. That project, which would have been built and operated by Liquiline Europe AS (Liquiline), had originally been planned for the fourth quarter of 2014. However the company entered bankruptcy shortly after, and was subsequently acquired by newly-formed Hirtshals LNG AS subsidiary Liquiline LNG.
European Regulations require the shipping sector to reduce marine sulphur emissions in the North Sea to 0.1% as of January 2015. One of the ways for the sector to reach this goal is to use cleaner fuels, such as LNG. The TEN-T program puts forward the obligation to provide publicly accessible LNG refueling facilities in all core European ports by 2030.