LNG on the Rhine
Many European sea hubs have led the way with LNG bunker stations; now inland ports want to join the show. The European Commission is supporting the construction of a bunker station in the German inland port of Cologne. The starting shot will be fired in June.
The building of the first permanent liquefied natural gas bunker station in a European inland port is proceeding to plan. The LNG bunker station is being set up at the address Am Molenkopf 17, in the port of Cologne on the river Rhine – the continent’s busiest inland waterway. The project, initiated by PitPoint.LNG, is scheduled to be opened in June 2019.
Inland barges bunkering LNG is a bit of a novelty. Ships are normally supplied with this fuel by mobile tanker lorries these days; opening this LNG bunker station for the inland waterway shipping industry brings a whole new set of balls into play. The advantages include more flexibility, thanks to the ready availability of the fuel, as well as substantially shorter overall bunkering times.
The Dutch firm PitPoint.LNG, which was issued the authorisation for the facility by the Cologne local authority in November 2018, specialises in building and operating LNG infrastructure for the shipping as well as the automobile industries. The Dutch firm already runs four LNG stations for heavy goods vehicles in the Netherlands; in Zwolle, Den Hoorn, Roosendaal and Venlo.
84% of all goods transported on inland waterways in the Rhine littoral states are handled here – so there’s obviously still plenty of potential for this alternative fuel of the future.
The new bunker station is a part of a plan presented by the European Commission to co-finance and create comprehensive LNG infrastructure for roads as well as for inland waterways. LNG engines emit far less hazardous and environment-polluting materials than diesel engines, in a comparison made in accordance with the latest European emissions standards laid down in CCNR II.
