• 06 Feb 2018

The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering operation via a ship-to-ship method has taken place on February 2, 2018 in the Spanish port of Bilbao, where the cement tanker MV Ireland received  90 cubic meters of the chilled fuel from the Oizmendi bunker vessel, owned by Itsas Gas , participada por el Ente Vasco de la Energía, Remolcadores Ibaizabal y Naviera Muruet. The LNG-fueled MV is a 110 meters long cement tanker built by the Dutch shipbuilder Ferus Smit for JT Cement, a joint venture between Erik Thun and KG Jebsen Cement from Norway. Delivered on December 2015, also became the first vessel to bunker LNG in the Port of Bilbao via a truck-to-ship system in March 2017. The MV Oizmendi, formerly known as Monte Arucas, was recently converted to a bunkering barge becoming Spain’s first LNG supply vessel, with two 300-cbm LNG tanks installed onboard. The event was attended by Mrs. Arantxa Tapia Otaegi, Counselor for Economic Development and Infrastructures  of the Basque Government, Iñigo Ansola General Manager EVE and President of Itsas Gas, and Asier Atutxa, President of the Port Authority of Bilbao. The conversion of the Monte Arucas forms part of a Basque region project that also includes adapting the BBG dock and regasification plant, and the design and construction of an LNG-powered tug.