LNG Masterplan safety studies completed

Port of Rotterdam informed that the LNG Masterplan safety studies have been performed by the classification society DNV GL. 

Initiated by the Pro Danube Management and the Port of Rotterdam in collaboration with more than 50 companies and stakeholders as part of the EU-funded project LNG Masterplan for Rhine-Main-Danube, the studies focus on the technical, safety and operational risk aspects of LNG bunkering, as well as LNG loading and unloading, according to a joint statement by the project participants.

“These studies provide a very detailed and clear insight into the numerous standards and practices already available to make LNG as fuel possible, while also giving us a concrete overview of the topics that we still need to work on in the near future,” says Manfred Seitz, Project Coordinator of the LNG Masterplan project from Pro Danube Management.

LNG Masterplan for Rhine-Main-Danube with the budget of almost 34 million euros, is 50 percent co-financed from the Trans-European Transport Network Programme of the European Union. The project aims to create a platform for the cooperation of authorities and industry stakeholders and to facilitate the creation of a “harmonized European regulatory framework for LNG as fuel and cargo in inland navigation”.

It also sets out a number of technical concepts for LNG use and transport in new and retrofitted vessels, as well as several pilot deployments of vessels and terminals.

Cees Boon, Program Manager at the Port of Rotterdam, expects that these reports will be the key reference in developing LNG as a fuel.

According to Matthé Bakker, DNV GL’s Head of Risk Management Advisory Netherlands, the studies show that in general there are no operational or safety showstoppers that prevent LNG as fuel from happening.

The challenge is more to align the way authorities and operators deal with LNG as fuel across regions and countries.

At the same time, these reports can eliminate a lot of the ongoing discussions that surround the development of LNG as fuel, as they describe the rationale behind certain practices and suggest a common way forward, Bakker concludes.

LNG World News Staff; Image: Port of Rotterdam