LNG in Polish Ports

2019-07-19

The bunkering of LNG in Polish seaports has become a fact. In March this year, PGNiG (Polish Mining and Gas Extraction Company) and Lotos Group conducted the first two commercial operations of bunkering of liquefied LNG on ships powered by this fuel. In March this year, in the ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia, from four cisterns, 72 tons of LNG fuel (42,800 Nm3 of gas) were pumped into the tanks of the ships Fure Valo and Ireland.

- Bunkering ships with natural gas in liquefied form is another of the many possibilities of using gas, which PGNiG imports to Poland from Qatar, Norway and the USA via the LNG Terminal in Świnoujście. We are convinced that this fuel, due to its ecological values, among others, is the future of maritime transport in the Baltic Sea - explained Maciej Woźniak, PGNiG SA Vice-President for Trade.

The possibility of bunkering ships with one of the cleanest fuels available on the market makes Gdynia and Gdańsk the next "green ports" of the TEN-T core network. According to the Directive on the development of alternative fuel infrastructure, a sufficient number of LNG bunkering points should be set up in seaports by the end of 2025 at the latest. In the case of Poland, these are to be, apart from Gdańsk and Gdynia, also Szczecin and Świnoujście.

- We see a growing demand from shipowners, so we decided to expand the use of LNG fuel in the Port of Gdynia. We want to build competitiveness on the international arena by developing bunkering technology for this ecological fuel - declared Adam Meller, President of the Port of Gdynia Authority SA.

This is all more important since LNG will be gaining popularity due to the adoption of the so-called Sulphur Directive, which requires shipowners sailing in the SECA (Sulphur Emission Control Areas) area, i.e. in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, among others, to use fuels with a sulphur content not exceeding 0.1%. On the other hand, from January 2020 global regulations will come into force bringing the limit of sulphur in fuel down from 3.5% to 0.5%. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) aims to reduce emissions from shipping and its impact on the environment. In addition, the European Commission plans to eliminate all emissions from maritime transport by 2050.

Tri-City ports, by implementing LNG bunkering services, respond to the needs of the market which, due to restrictions resulting from emission standards, is rapidly changing the technologies used in maritime transport. LNG, being an ecological fuel, releases less harmful pollutants into the atmosphere during combustion compared to e.g. classic marine fuel. Another of its advantages is the possibility of liquefying natural gas in LNG, as a result of which its volume is reduced about 600 times, which leads to a reduction in the costs of storage and transport of this gas. At present, Gdańsk and Gdynia provide bunkering of LNG ships using the road tanker- ship method. In the future there will also be an alternative in the form of a mobile bunkering point in ship-to-ship technology.

Article developed with "Namiary na Morze i Handel" magazine.

phot. LOTOS / "Namiary na Morze i Handel"