LNG bunkering boost at Finland port

Elenger, known as Eesti Gaas in Estonia, has started bunkering LNG ships at the Port of Hanko for the first time, with a contract in place to supply fuel to 1A ice class ro-ro vessels Auto Energy and Auto Eco, which are owned by European short sea shipping company UECC.

“In addition to new passenger ships, new merchant ships are increasingly switching to LNG technology. LNG will replace diesel fuel used as marine fuel so far, which will result in cleaner air and the Baltic Sea,” said Kalev Reiljan, member of the management board of Elenger.

“The first bunkering at Hanko Port was preceded by a long and thorough preliminary work and a mapping of potential risks, while LNG bunkering in Hanka worked as planned,” added Mr Reiljan.

The ships will deliver new vehicles from Europe to Finland and Russia and accommodate a total of 4,000 vehicles on ten decks.

Weekly bunkering

In the following months, truck-to-ship bunkering will take place weekly at the Port of Hanko. The ship is bunkered at a time with four trailers or 72t of LNG

Elenger already carries out bunkering operations in the ports of Tallinn and Helsinki. Similarly to Helsinki, Elenger plans to supply LNG to the Port of Hanko mainly from the new Novatek LNG plant in Vysotsk, which was launched with the support of Elenger experts.

Tallink’s Megastar ship has been bunkered by LNG trucks in the ports of Tallinn and Helsinki more than 2000 times.

For transporting and bunkering LNG, Elenger has acquired nine semi-trailers.