Antwerp Is Looking For LNG Bunkering Terminal Concessionaire

Belgian Port of Antwerp has issued a request for proposals for a concessionaire to build and operate a permanent liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering and filling facility by the beginning of 2019 at the latest.

The Antwerp Port Authority has chosen a 7,304 m² site on quay 528 as the location for the LNG bunkering facility. On the basis of a preliminary basic design for a facility with storage capacity of 450 m³, a safety study has shown that up to 45,000 m³ of LNG can be bunkered annually at a filling rate of 100 m³/hour.

Interested parties have until October 5 to submit their project proposals. 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. It is also possible for other fuels to be stored or made available on the site.

This request for proposals represents a change of policy for the Antwerp Port Authority: until the beginning of this year the plan was for the 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 abandonment of this approach, and it has now chosen instead to issue an RfP for another company to build and subsequently operate the facility.