Engie to Bunker LNG at Antwerp

Belgium’s Port of Antwerp has signed a 30-year concession for France's Engie to develop an Alternative Energy Hub, the two firms said April 28.

The hub will consist of an LNG bunker and filling station for inland navigation and road transport, plus a compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station, and rapid chargers for electric vehicles.

The concession takes effect on October 1 this year and the first phase of the hub, to be located at quays 526 and 528, will be operational by the end of 2017. It dovetails into the LNG Masterplan for Rhine-Main-Danube, under which the Port of Antwerp and 32 partners from across Europe are working to make cleaner LNG fuel a reality for refuelling inland barges and to provide opportunities for inland vessels to deliver LNG to inland European ports. The concession with Engie means that from 2017 LNG will be permanently and continuously available in the Port of Antwerp.

Although dozens of marine LNG bunkering hubs across northern Europe are already built and operated by specialised suppliers such as Skangas, Shell-Gasnor and Bomin Linde, Engie at Antwerp says it will build the first shore-to-ship LNG bunkering station in Europe that will be suitable for refueling both inland and coastal vessels including dredgers and tugboats.

Engie, Belgium’s Fluxys plus Japan’s NYK and Mitsubishi jointly are having a new LNG bunkering vessel built, with a hold capacity for 5,100 m3 LNG, in South Korea for delivery in 2H 2016; it's expected to operate from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. Engie last year won an order to supply LNG to Norwegian shipowner United European Car Carriers for its two giant dual-fuel car carriers now being built in China; each will carry up to 3,800 cars.

Mark Smedley