Straatman commissions mooring system for Germany’s Stade LNG terminal

Dutch maritime equipment manufacturer Straatman has commissioned the complete mooring system for Germany’s Stade LNG terminal, which is expected to play an important role in facilitating LNG imports and securing the country’s supply.

Stratman revealed that with the first arrival of the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Transgas Force at the new jetty expected by the end of March, the company manufactured, delivered and commissioned all the necessary equipment to ensure its safe and efficient mooring.

This includes all 150T and 125T triple quick release mooring hooks with capstans, remote release and load monitoring system, environmental monitoring system and control panel featuring the company’s MoorControl software.

Straatman also thanked the project team at Depenbrock Bau for their cooperation throughout the process, affirming its pride in having played a part in the project.

To remind, Germany’s seaport company Niedersachsen Ports handed over the new landing pier for FSRU in Stade to the state of Lower Saxony in December 2023.

The new LNG jetty is 650 meters long and is located to the south of an existing harbor. Its construction was accelerated to allow the FSRU chartered by the German government to temporarily dock at Stade. The FSRU will leave the site once the onshore terminal, which is currently being developed by Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH), becomes operational.

At the time of the handover, Olaf Lies, Lower Saxony Minister for Economic Affairs, Transport, Construction and Digitalization, made a promise that the use of fossil gas is only a temporary solution, adding that in the next step, Germany will import climate-friendly gases via this infrastructure.

As mentioned above, a land-based terminal is being developed in Stade. It is scheduled to be completed in 2027 and will handle 13.3 billion cubic meters of green and LNG gases annually.

Until then, the newly built port infrastructure will be used to import and regasify liquefied gas via the Transgas Force FSRU, operated by Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH (DET) on behalf of the federal government. At the beginning of 2024, marine LNG infrastructure company Energos Infrastructure completed the acquisition of the FSRU from affiliates of Dynagas, an LNG maritime transportation company.

To note, this terminal is the first land-based terminal in Germany to be approved as being ammonia-ready in line with Germany’s LNG Acceleration Act. Operations in Stade are to be converted from LNG to ammonia as a hydrogen-based energy source by December 31, 2043, at the latest.