Rotterdam ups its LNG activity

Under the MOU, the two authorities will exchange information on standards, procedures and regulatory frameworks of bunkering and other marine services, including the use of information technology, to facilitate services to vessels, and R&D relating to service efficiency and optimisation and new developments in the maritime and port sectors, such as LNG bunkering, green shipping and port optimisation.

The port, as part of the Rhine Port Group, also recently handed over the first edition of an LNG emergency and incident response study to the first Major of the City of Mannheim and dedicated chief of the fire department.

The document, which was carried out under the EU-funded project ‘LNG Masterplan for Rhine-Main-Danube’, informs emergency response organisations how to prepare themselves to manage credible LNG incidents on inland navigation along the Rhine-Main-Danube corridor.

The document also features a desk study of existing technology and state of readiness in the Rhine ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, Mannheim, Strasbourg and Switzerland.

Elsewhere, Gate terminal at Maasvlakte has begun construction of its new LNG break bulk facility, which will have a capacity of 280 berthing slots per year and is expected to boost the use of LNG as a cleaner and affordable transportation fuel in the Netherlands and northwest Europe.