Page 10 - Port of Hamburg Magazine - 02.18

■ GREEN PORT
10 | Port of Hamburg Magazine | June 2018
LNG is already being bunkered by road tankers in Brunsbüttel
and identifying possible customers for the facility. The results will be an important element for the joint venture’s later decision on investment. The ‘Open Season’ was successfully concluded in May. A con- siderable number of companies with differing require- ments have signed declarations of intent. From its re- gasification and feeding gas into the German gas network, to handling & distribution of LNG, wide in- terest exists in the services to be provided by an LNG terminal.
The next steps provide for deeper exploratory discus- sions with potential customers, and parallel prepara- tion for the planning permissions procedure so that this can already commence at the end of this year. “The ‘Open Season’ process has indicated market ac- ceptance for the various services to be offered by the planned import/small-scale terminal in Brunsbüttel. We regard that as confirmation that our service port- folio matched client requirements,” comment Ger- man LNG Terminal sources. Once permission is re- ceived, a final decision on investment is envisaged for the end of 2019. Almost simultaneously, a start
should be made on construction. After a period of al- most three years of construction, therefore, the ter- minal can probably enter service during 2022.
In the Elbe Port of Brunsbüttel, the largest LNG bun- kering anywhere in Germany to date occurred earlier this year. Within four weeks, the hopper dredger ‘Scheldt River’ was on two occasions bunkered with a total of 163 tons of the environment-friendly fuel. This suction vessel was filled from two LNG road tankers in parallel. Altogether five of these delivered the required LNG to Brunsbüttel. Hamburg-based Nauticor was responsible for the operation itself. “LNG as an ecological fuel in shipping, plus its use at Brunsbüttel as an industrial and port site, is not some topic for the far-off future. It is already reality today. This underlines that the port on the Elbe today even now meets the requirements for regular bunkering of LNG,” explains Frank Schnabel, Managing Director of Brunsbüttel Ports.
The planned terminal opens up many possibilities for use of the environment-friendly fuel. It will contribute