LNG tankers on their way to Alcegiras and Barcelona

The European Commission recently signed a co-financing agreement with Enagás and the Port Authority of Algeciras, starting the construction of a tanker for ship-to-ship refueling of LNG in the bay of Algeciras. In the port of Algeciras, the busiest in Spain, truck to ship supplies have been active since 2012.

The initiative is part of the Spanish LNGHIVE2 strategy coordinated by Enagás as part of the European CEF mechanism, which will provide funding equal to 20% of the construction cost for approximately 11 million euros. A similar initiative is being finalized for a second bunker vessel which will be dedicated to the port of Barcelona.

The project for the Bay of Alcegiras involves the construction of a bunker vessel with a capacity of 12,500 cubic meters of LNG, which once it enters service in 2023, will be refueled at the Enagás terminal in Huelva. In November 2020, LNG refueling operations in Spain were approximately quadrupled compared to the same period of the previous year.

According to the certification company DNV / GL, the new tankers will further strengthen the role of Spain and in the field of LNG supplies: in 2019 there were six Spanish ports that supplied LNG to the ships, a number that grew to 11 in 2020.