Netherlands, Poland Unveil LNG Investments
Two European ventures last week announced plans to boost LNG infrastructure, while a marine LNG pioneer said it is to be taken over by a larger French shipowner.
Gate terminal in Rotterdam said June 20 that it will invest to increase the flow rate at the jetties to load LNG carriers from the current 2300 m3/hr to 4000 m3/hour to lower port time for vessels, enabling the terminal to load standard-sized 180,000 m3 LNG carriers in less than three days. It said the investment, which it did not disclose, involves de-bottlenecking of the pipeline systems used to deliver LNG from the storage tank to the ship and can be installed without a plant shutdown. Construction will start in the summer of 2018 and will be finished after the summer of 2019, Gate LNG said.
LNG loading arms in Rotterdam (Photo credit: Gate LNG)
In the Baltic, Polish state-run gas supplier PGNiG June 21 signed an agreement on the use of LNG fuel with the Port of Gdynia Authority which, among other points, includes the construction of an LNG bunkering barge that would receive EU grant-funding. No timeline was given. The accord is distinct from a concept by gas grid operator Gaz System to develop a nearby floating LNG import terminal.
CGM CMA to acquire Containerships
Separately Finnish shipowner Containerships said June 21 it is to be acquired by France’s CMA CGM, the world’s third largest container shipping line with revenues of €18bn. The Finnish firm said there would be no change to its already-declared programme of launching four LNG-fuelled containerships between August 2018 and January 2019. CMA CGM itself has ordered nine such ships.
Neither Containerships, nor CMA CGM which announced the takeover June 20, disclosed the value of the takeover deal.
The death was announced June 25 of CMA CGM's Beirut-born founder Jacques Saade, who died June 24 aged 81, described by French president Emmanuel Macron as "a visionary entrepreneur." Saade left Lebanon to protect his family from the civil war, founding the Compagnie Maritime d’Affretement (CMA) 40 years ago in September 1978.