Spotted: Port of Rostock Bunkers Its First Vessel with LNG

Gazprom Germania GmbH, a daughter company of Gazprom Export, bunkered the cement carrier MV Greenland with liquefied natural gas (LNG) for the first time in the port of Rostock, Germany.

The 2015-built vessel received the LNG fuel in the morning hours of February 27, 2016.

“Climate-friendly natural gas could replace thousands of tonnes of heavy fuel oil every year,” Timo Vehrs, Director of Business Development at GAZPROM Germania GmbH, said.

“We have now taken a crucial first step in Rostock, where this bunkering operation has shown that the vision of using LNG as bunker fuel has already become a reality.”

“We are certain that the opportunity to bunker alternative fuels like LNG will play its part in making us more competitive and encouraging more environmentally friendly ships to call in Rostock,” Jens Aurel Scharner, managing director of Hafen-Entwicklungsgesellschaft Rostock mbH, said.

MV Greenland, operated by the Norwegian shipping company KGJ Cement AS, is equipped with a fully automated cement loading and unloading system, based on the principle of fluidization of cement with compressed air.