North Sea Port, Titan LNG Supply Fure West with LNG

On October 16, a bunkering operation involving liquefied natural gas (LNG) from trucks to a sea-going vessel was successfully completed in North Sea Port.

As informed, this is the first bunkering operation on this scale to take place in North Sea Port and builds on previous initiatives within the port.

The truck-to-ship bunkering operation was carried out at Kluizendok in Ghent, with LNG being pumped to the tanker Fure West from trucks on the quay. The ship was supplied by 8 trucks carrying about 19 tons of LNG each, a total of over 150 tons of LNG.

The bunkering service was provided by Titan LNG, a supplier of LNG for ships and industrial applications in north-western Europe. The 144-meter-long Fure West is owned by the Swedish shipping company Furetank. Last weekend, the ship unloaded bulk liquid at OilTanking Ghent.

“Because the ship does not always know where it is going to be working, it is important to be able to move quickly to arrange bunkers in different places. The communication with North Sea Port was very smooth and we were very pleased with the cooperation provided, which led to a safe and efficient bunkering operation,” Jippe van Eijnatten of Titan LNG said.

Resupplying a ship with this cleaner maritime fuel contributes to North Sea Port’s objective of reducing total emissions in the port, the port explained.

The aim is for bunkering with LNG to become more routine in North Sea Port in the future. According to Jan Lagasse, CEO of North Sea Port, this will increase the attractiveness of North Sea Port to shipping and significantly reduce emissions of CO2 and nitrogen oxides.

North Sea Port, the newly merged cross-border port authority, is investigating further opportunities for LNG bunkering using the ship-to-ship method.