• 08 Oct 2018

The European Commission has announced a new co-financing of 12.1 million euros in favor of the "Venice LNG facility" project for the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in the Port of Venice, presented last April by the Port Authority Authority North Adriatic Sea and the Venice LNG company, as part of the Connecting Europe Facility Program (CEF).

The allocated European contribution will be added to the € 6.4 million already achieved with a previous tender, thus reaching the figure of € 18.5 million of financed capital.

The Venice LNG project, supported by the Port of Venice, involves the construction of a coastal LNG terminal in the South Channel in Marghera, which will have a maximum storage capacity of 32,000 c.m. and will be able to manage up to 900 thousand c.m./year of liquefied natural gas, supplying medium-sized LNG fuelled ships and distributing it through barges, trucks and trains.

"Supporting the LNG terminal, the port of Venice has preferred to anticipate the legal obligations and to seize the evolution of the market, accelerating the greening of port activities - commented Pino Musolino, President of the Port Authority of North Adriatic Sea, adding "The Venice LNG project responds to the increasingly pressing need to reduce transport emissions, particularly in the heavy road transport and shipping, areas which, as it is known, are not easy to convert to electricity. The cruise industry is one of the most attentive to this change of pace, so that in the coming years should arrive in Venice the first LNG powered ships and dual-fuel ferries, and our port is a candidate to become a focal point in the Adriatic Sea to supply these fleets ".

Gian Luigi Triboldi, President of Venice LNG, said: "The approval of the co-financing confirms that, as entrepreneurs, we are on the right track. We have undertaken this course because we want to continue investing in the fuel storage sector, but we want to do so by taking the route of sustainable development."

Ports belonging to the TEN-T trans-European transport network will have to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2025. A study commissioned by the Port Authority of Venice estimates that the evolution of LNG consumption volumes in 2030 in the Venetian port will lead to a demand of 873 thousand ton/year of LNG for road (73%), maritime (19.7 %) and port/local (7.3%) uses.

Source: Port of Venice