• 26 Feb 2019

In the Port of Rotterdam, the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as bunker fuel has increased considerably to 9,500 tonnes in 2018, from 1,500 in 2017. Although quantitatively still limited, the figure indicates an unexpected speed of penetration.

The two operators Titan LNG and Shell have registered as LNG bunker specialists in the Port of Rotterdam, operating respectively at the City Terminal Prins Willem Alexanderhaven and at the Gate Terminal, where last year Shell put its specialised ocean-going bunkering vessel Cardissa into use.

The vessel, that can hold around 6,500 cubic metres of LNG fuel, delivered its first ship-to-ship bunkering of LNG to the Sovcomflot’s vessel Gagarin Prospect in October 2018 (read more HERE). The Port Authority expects to have ten suppliers within five years and a considerable increase in LNG bunkering.

On the other side, the Port noted total sales of other fuels (fuel oil, gas oil, diesel oil and lubricants oils) decreased from 9.89 million cubic meters to 9.48 million cm., dropping 4.1% compared to the previous year.  The decrease can almost entirely be ascribed to the decline in sales of heavy fuel oil, from 8.26 million cm. to 7.92 million cm.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority suppose that the decline in bunker volumes in Europe’s largest bunker port may be a consequence of the increased scale and efficiency of modern vessels in container shipping, since supplies to containerships account for approximately 70 per cent of the total Rotterdam bunker market.

In the Port of Rotterdam, where some 20,000 bunkering operations take place each year, bunker specialists are obliged to report to the Port Authority prior to commencing each bunkering operation.

To this end, recently the Port Authority started the 'Timetobunker' Application,  a new tool for Electronic Bunker Pre-Notifications,  that  enables the operators  to electronically send the mandatory pre-notifications to the Harbour Master, Port of Rotterdam Authority and Customs (optional) replacing the VHF.

Source: Porto di Rotterdam