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European gas storage operator RAG, trimodal logistics hub Ennshafen OÖ GmbH and Iveco Austria have collaborated to open Austria’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) filling station at Ennshafen port.
Officially opened at the Zukunftsforum LNG conference, the LNG station was completed by RAG in just a few weeks and is now open to the public.
“This is a milestone in establishing LNG as an environmentally friendly fuel for goods vehicles, and RAG is making a highly important contribution to achieving Austria’s climate targets. Thanks to our filling station, LNG has finally arrived in the country,” commented Markus Mitteregger, RAG’s Chief Executive Officer, on offering a competitive, clean and affordable alternative to conventional fuels for goods transportation by road.
“The Ennshafen logistics hub in central Upper Austria is the ideal choice for the site of the country’s first LNG filling station. Port handling and a high density of goods vehicle traffic go hand in hand,” commented Werner Auer, Managing Director of Ennshafen OÖ GmbH, who took time to highlight the advantages of the Ennshafen port site. “As a Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) hub, Ennshafen offers the infrastructure required for the first step in establishing this new fuel in Austria.
Further expansion phases are already in preparation. This is a key step in developing the waterway transportation chain, which will enable us to continue to meet high standards of environmental friendliness in the coming decades.”
As a result of extensive investment in infrastructure and state-of-the-art technology, the Port of Enns on the Danube has become a logistics hub for three different modes of transportation, and an important business location for the Enns-Perg-Amstetten area. The port and neighbouring business parks in Upper Austria and Lower Austria form the largest contiguous industrial zone in the Upper Danube region, with an area of over 350 hectares.
Approximately 12 tonnes of LNG can be kept in storage at the Ennshafen site at present – equivalent to the amount required to refuel between 60 and 90 trucks. RAG delivers natural gas using its own LNG tankers. Some of the gas comes from RAG’s gas reservoirs in Austria, and is processed at the company’s LNG plant in Gampern, Upper Austria. Currently, about two tonnes of LNG a day is produced there, which can then be used at the Ennshafen LNG filling station. This is enough to refuel 10 to 15 LNG-powered trucks a day.
RAG has been using an Iveco Stralis NP – the first truck to run on LNG in Austria – since April 2017. Further Iveco Stralis NPs were delivered to selected customers in September 2017. More than 2,000 trucks of this type are on the road in Europe. As IVECO Business Director Karl-Martin Studener explained: “”
