The Spanish Port of Málaga has carried out its first bunkering operation of bio-liquefied natural gas (bio-LNG), having supplied a container vessel owned by Swiss maritime transport giant Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) with this alternative fuel.
As disclosed, the Liberia-flagged MSC Gabon refilled with bio-LNG at the Spanish port on September 24, marking Málaga’s next step in its efforts to ensure sustainable operations in the wake of tightening environmental regulations.
According to the port’s officials, the bunkering operation was conducted by the 2021-built 7,500 cubic meter (cbm) small-scale LNG vessel Avenir Aspiration , which is being chartered by Switzerland-based renewable energy producer Axpo.
The bunker ship reportedly supplied the 260-meter-long MSC Gabon with 3,000 cubic meters of bio-LNG.
Per the Port of Málaga, Axpo is the first maritime player to carry out a ship-to-ship transfer (STS) of liquefied natural gas in the region.
Namely, as representatives from Axpo had previously divulged, in March this year, the company supplied an MSC ship with 2,800 metric tonnes of LNG, marking both the first time STS bunkering was performed in the region and the first instance of simultaneous operations (SimOps) in Spain for a boxship, meaning LNG refueling took place at the same time as cargo loading and unloading.
Beyond Málaga, at the beginning of August, Axpo commemorated Spain’s ‘first-ever’ bio-LNG transfer at the Port of Algeciras. The operation involved refueling the CMA CGM Foet Bourbon with over 4,000 cubic metres of ISCC-certified bio-LNG. Axpo had said at the time that the clean fuel was sourced via virtual liquefaction at the Enagás Regasification plant in Cartagena, which is said to be a ‘vital’ liquefied natural gas infrastructure hub in the Mediterranean region.
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More recently, Axpo joined the FuelBoss platform, a fully digitalized end-to-end bunkering solution created by Ofiniti—a spinoff of Norway’s classification society DNV— which aims to boost process integrity, data transparency and operational efficiency.
The company revealed that one of the primary reasons behind joining the platform was to ‘streamline’ its bunkering LNG bunkering services and, in doing so, strengthen its position in the Mediterranean region.