Hamburg-based Bomin Linde LNG completed the first LNG bunkering of a chemical tanker in Port of Rostock last week.
Fure West, an LNG-fueled chemical tanker operated by the Swedish shipping company Furetank, became the first such vessel to receive the chilled fuel in a German port, Bomin Linde LNG said in its statement on Monday.
The truck-to-ship bunkering operation is the materialization of the partnership agreement between the two companies on LNG supply in the Baltic Sea region.
A total of four LNG trucks were unloaded onto the vessel that was retrofitted in 2015 to run on liquefied natural gas. Furetank, together with its partners in the Gothia Tanker Alliance, ordered a total of six LNG-fueled newbuilds .
Speaking of the cooperation with Bomin Linde LNG as well as the bunkering operation, Lars Höglund , managing director of Furetank, stressed that joint development of the LNG market is the basis for establishing LNG as ship fuel.
The two companies will work on extending the truck-to-ship as well as ship-to-ship LNG bunkering.
Jens Aurel Scharner , managing director of Rostock Port added that besides supplying LNG by truck, supply by a bunker vessel might be an option in the long-run.