Eesti Gaas kicks off bunkering operations in Port of Helsinki

Elenger, an Eesti Gaas unit operating in foreign markets, has started LNG bunkering operations in the port of Helsinki.

Eesti Gaas said that the ship being bunkered was the same that Eesti Gaas bunkered in the port of Tallinn, the shuttle Megastar which cruises between Helsinki and Tallinn.

Jarko Alanko, the CEO of Elenger Finland, said: “While LNG bunkering is rather a rare sight in the port of Helsinki these days, it is bound to become one of routine operations in the nearest future – LNG will eventually replace diesel fuel among marine fuels, which will contribute to cleaner air and cleaner Baltic Sea.”

Tallink’s Megastar will be truck-to-ship bunkered in the port of Helsinki once a week. The LNG is primarily delivered to the port of Helsinki from the new Novatek’s LNG plant in Vysotsk.

Eesti Gaas supplies its clients with LNG from Russia, Finland, and Lithuania. Last year, Eesti Gaas supplied over 16,000 tonnes of LNG from its various procurement sources while the amount supplied a year before had been 12,300 tonnes.

The company has procured special semi-trailers for LNG transportation and bunkering. By now, Tallink’s vessel Megastar has been truck-to-ship bunkered with LNG in the port of Tallinn more than 1,600 times.

It is worth noting that Dutch shipbuilder Damen is building an LNG bunkering vessel for Eesti Gaas, set to be completed and start bunkering vessels in 2020.