Elengy in France’s first LNG delivery by rail

French LNG terminal operator Elengy has loaded the first ISO LNG container at its Fos Cavaou terminal for further transport by rail.

The ISO-tank will be transported from the Miramas platform in the South of France to a service station near Milan, Italy, Elengy said in its statement.

This mode of transport offers several benefits: it allows large volumes of LNG to be transported, it reduces the cost of transport and it facilitates access to LNG in certain regions, while significantly reducing the polluting emissions associated with its transport, the statement reads.

Carried out in partnership with Total and with the support of the Région Sud and the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille, this first loading operation of an ISO-container transported by rail made it possible to validate the entire logistics chain.

Elengy is thus accelerating the transformation of its LNG terminals into multimodal hubs to offer even greater flexibility to the market and facilitate access to liquefied natural gas.

Commenting on the operation, Elengy’s CEO Sandra Roche-Vu Quang noted that it paves the way for the development of LNG transport logistics chains by rail to serve regions in France and neighboring countries that are in no way connected to its LNG terminals.

“In 2017, with our regional Climate Plan, we made a commitment to take concrete actions to develop eco-mobility for the well-being of the inhabitants of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. Four years later, it is a great pleasure to see that our region hosting this exceptional innovation. Through this process, which allows for better LNG transport in France and Europe, Elengy is contributing to the democratization of this low-polluting fuel,” Renaud Muselier, president of the Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, president of Régions de France said.

Total’s senior VP LNG, Thomas Maurisse added that the demand for LNG in Northern Italy is growing, and Total is involved in this project with the aim to facilitate the development of an LNG supply chain from the Fos Cavaou terminal.

“Using transport by rail will reduce the CO2 emissions associated with the delivery of LNG and will contribute to our ambition to get to net-zero emissions by 2050,” he concluded.