Dutch company PitPoint said it has opened Europe’s first shore-to-ship Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) bunker station for inland shipping at the Niehler Hafen in Cologne.
The opening of this station represents a step towards facilitating clean maritime transport, PitPoint said in its statement.
The new LNG bunker station is part of PitPoint.LNG’s plans to develop a European LNG infrastructure for heavy-duty transport by road and water and is co-financed by the European Union. The location of the station between Basel and Rotterdam and good access to the location were the main reasons for choosing the Port of Cologne.
The new shore-to-ship bunkering station significantly expedites the bunkering process. Where LNG-fuelled vessels were required to submit a request and schedule an appointment to purchase LNG from a truck-to-ship bunkering station, shore-to-ship bunkering can now be done faster via the station’s powerful pumps.
Moreover, the shore-to-ship bunker station is open 24/7, with professional service engineers available to provide bunkering services. In the near future, the station will be able to fuel two vessels at the same time, the statement reads.