Port of Antwerp issued a request for proposals to build and operate LNG bunkering & filling facility.
According to the request, it must be possible for barges to fill up with LNG at a permanent facility in the port of Antwerp by the beginning of 2019 at the latest. Truck-to-ship bunkering is already possible, but the port of Antwerp wishes to further augment the availability of LNG by setting up a permanent station.
It has already been possible to bunker with LNG in the port of Antwerp since 2012. LNG is collected by truck at the import terminal in Zeebrugge and brought to the quayside in Antwerp from where it can be filled directly into the barge, a process known as truck-to-ship bunkering. Building a permanent facility would make LNG available in the port of Antwerp on a continuous basis.
The Port of Antwerp is currently looking for a concessionary to build and operate an LNG bunkering and filling facility on quay 528. The request for proposals represents a change of policy for the Port Authority: until the beginning of this year the plan was for the Port Authority to invest in such a facility itself and then to have it operated by an independent company. However, a changed view of the market has led the Port Authority to abandon this approach, and it has now chosen instead to issue an RfP for another company to build and subsequently operate the facility.
The deadline for the companies to submit their project proposals has been set to October 5, the Port Authority said in its request.
Additionally, the Port Authority does not exclude the possibility of transhipment of LNG from feeder ships, transhipment of LNG by trucks and LNG/CNG filling facilities for road users also being developed on the site.
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LNG World News Staff; Image: Port of Antwerp