Clean fuel provider PitPoint has opened Europe’s first shore-to-ship Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) bunker station for inland shipping at the Niehler Hafen on the Rhine in Cologne, Germany. The project was co-financed by the European Union as part of developing a European LNG infrastructure.
The LNG bunker station is strategically located between Basel and Rotterdam along Europe’s busiest waterway the Rhine and has good access. Aim of the station is to facilitate the uptake of LNG as fuel for maritime transport.
Location of the bunkering station on the Rhine (by Google maps).
Open and Staffed 24/7
The new shore-to-ship bunkering station significantly expedites the bunkering process. Where LNG-fuelled vessels were required to submit a request and schedule an appointment to purchase LNG from a truck-to-ship or ship-to-ship bunkering station, shore-to-ship bunkering can now be done faster and easier via the station’s powerful pumps. Moreover, the shore-to-ship bunker station is open 24/7, with professional service engineers available to provide bunkering services. In the near future, the station will be able to fuel two vessels at the same time.
The biggest benefit of using LNG lies in the reduced emission of fine particulates and NOX. Based on current European emission standards (CCNR II), LNG-fuelled engines produce twenty per cent less CO2, at least eighty per cent less NOX and more than 99 per cent less fine particulates than diesel-powered engines.
