Belgium's port of Zeebrugge has started its first ship-to-ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering services.
The ENGIE Zeebrugge bunkering vessel has delivered LNG as a marine fuel for United European Car Carriers’ (UECC) two new M/V Auto Eco and M/V Auto Energy gas-propelled pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs) during the operation.
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The bunkering and cargo operations were conducted simultaneously.
ENGIE Zeebrugge was built by South Korea’s Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction and is the world’s first purpose-built LNG bunkering vessel.
The vessel arrived at Zeebrugge in April and is currently carrying out a weekly service to the two UECC PCTCs.
ENGIE Zeebrugge loads LNG at Fluxys’ LNG terminal in Zeebrugge, where small carriers with capacities from 2,000m³ can dock at the recently commissioned second jetty.
The bunkering ship can carry 5,000m³ of LNG and is jointly owned by ENGIE, Mitsubishi, NYK Line, and Fluxys.
Mitsubishi has stated that ENGIE Zeebrugge will serve all types of shipping customers in Northern Europe from its home port Zeebrugge under the brand name of Gas4Sea.
Gas4Seawas launched in September last year by ENGIE, Mitsubishi and NYK Line.
Mitsubishi further noted that the completion of the latest ship-to-ship bunkering operations is expected to help the development of the budding LNG bunkering market.
Image: ENGIE Zeebrugge performs ship-to-ship LNG bunkering at the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium. Photo: courtesy of ENGIE.
