Venice to Use More LNG than Other Northern Adriatic Ports

The Port of Venice expects highest consumption of liquefied natural gas compared to other Northern Atlantic ports such as Trieste, Rijeka and Koper.

Namely, Venice will use 160,584 tons of LNG for maritime transport, Trieste is expected to use 22,062 tons of LNG for the same purposes, while Rijeka and Koper will use less than 9 thousand tons of LNG.

These figures were mentioned at a seminar title Liquefied Natural Gas in the Ports of the Northern Adriatic, which took place in the Slovenian Port of Koper on December 9. The seminar was held as part of the activities of the Action Costa II East – Poseidon MED, implemented under the TEN-T program.

The seminar covered the topic of the European commission promoting LNG due to its low SOx emissions compared to classic fossil fuels. The speakers added that LNG could be a potential solution for the Mediterranean vessels as well, however it is expected that the Mediterranean will first become an emission control area (ECA).

With the Marpol convention, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) introduced the emission control areas in the Baltic and North Sea as well as along coasts of the United States of America and Canada.

Venice has already started studying the possibility of setting up a dedicated storage infrastructure in the dismissed industrial area of the port, while Croatia plans to build a gas terminal in the Island of Krk, expected to break ground in 2018.

The studies developed in the framework of the Costa II East – Poseidon MED Action showed that the demand for LNG in ports of Trieste, Rijeka and Koper is expected to be at a very similar level from year 2030 – about 20.000 tons of LNG per year, where the LNG would be used by vessels, trucks, but also other port equipment.