Elenger, an Eesti Gaas unit operating in the foreign markets, started its first LNG bunkering operations in the Port of Helsinki, supplying the Megastar ferry that operates the daily shuttle service between Helsinki and Tallinn.

The ship Megastar, belonging to the Tallink Silja navigation group, leader in the Baltic Sea with a total of 16 modern and fast ships, will be supplied by truck-to-ship in the Port of Helsinki once a week with LNG of Russian production, coming from the new small-scale liquefaction plant of 660,000 tons of Vysotsk.

The plant is owned by Novatek company (Russia's largest private producer of natural gas) and has started exporting LNG from the Vysotsk Port on the Baltic Sea since April 2019.

Jarko Alanko, CEO of Elenger Finland, said: "Attending LNG bunkering in the port of Helsinki is an unusual event, but it is destined to become one of the routine operations in the near future, with LNG destined to replace marine diesel and keep the air and the Baltic Sea cleaner ".

In 2018, Eesti Gaas supplied its customers with over 16,000 tons of LNG, compared to the 12,300 tons recorded in the previous year. In particular, the Megastar ship was supplied by truck-to-ship in the Port of Tallinn over 1,600 times.

Eesti Gas is going to equip itself with a 6,000 cubic meter LNG bunkering vessel, that is currently under construction at the Damen's Yichang Chinese shipyard and should start its ship-to-ship bunkering activities in the second half of 2020.

Source: Eesti Gaas