Antwerp port seeks LNG barge bunkering facility

The Port of Antwerp is looking to construct a permanent liquefied natural gas bunkering facility for barges by 2019.

   The Port of Antwerp is looking to construct a permanent liquefied natural gas bunkering facility for barges by 2019.
   The port already offers LNG bunkering as a truck-to-ship service since 2012.
   LNG is picked up by truck at the LNG import terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium, and brought to the quayside in Antwerp from where it can be filled directly into the barge. “Building a permanent facility will make LNG available in the port of Antwerp on a continuous basis,” the Port of Antwerp said in a statement.
   The Port of Antwerp is currently looking for a third party to build and operate an LNG bunkering and filling facility on quay 528. A request for proposals has been released to the public and the submissions are due to the port authority by Oct. 5.
   Until earlier this year, the port authority planned to build the facility itself and then to have it operated by an independent company. “However, a changed view of the market has led the port authority to abandon this approach, and it has now chosen instead to issue a [request for proposal] for another company to build and subsequently operate the facility,” the port authority said.
   Currently, there are five barges that operate on LNG from Antwerp. Their tanks hold up to 50 cubic meters of LNG, or enough for a roundtrip between Antwerp and the Swiss inland port of Basel on the Rhine.