VTG trials rail LNG transport in Germany
German logistics firm VTG has test-trialled the transport of LNG via rail in specially developed tank wagons in Germany on behalf of Liqvis, a unit of energy group Uniper, the companies said on September 13.
The super-cooled gas was transported from the port of Brunsbuettel in north Germany to a Uniper power plant some 800 km in Ingolstadt in the country's south. Brunsbuettel is already a hub for LNG bunkering. But a consortium of Dutch gas grid operator Gasunie, Dutch chemical storage firm Vopak and German logistics group Oiltanking plan to develop an 8bn m3/year regasification terminal there.
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Czech firm Chart Ferox provided technical support for the filling of the LNG wagons at Brunsbuettel.
"VTG already has the expertise and the logistical concepts that are needed to move LNG around Europe's rail networks quickly, reliably and in a way that is kind to the environment," VTG's head of LNG business development in Europe, Heinz Jurgen Hiller, said. "As.a kind of 'pipeline to go,' our LNG tank wagons can permanently supply LNG to whole industries with a voracious appetite for energy."
"For both our customers and ourselves, the safe and seamless supply of LNG to our existing and planned filling stations is of crucial importance," Liqvis' managing director, Sebastian Groblinghoff, added. "But besides wanting to deliver a product with a very low carbon content at our filling stations, we are also striving to actively reduce CO2 emissions throughout the upstream value chain."
"Having VTG by our side gives us a potent partner that shares our vision of a sustainable future," he continued. "Within the framework of this test project, VTG is joining us in exploring potential to optimise the delivery of LNG to our network of filling stations."