EU funding for LNG bunkering vessel project

JANUARY 11, 2013 — A €1,305,000 LNG bunkering project being carried out by AGA AB in the Port of Stockholm, Sweden, is to go ahead with the help of a €261,000 contribution from the European Union’s TEN-T program.

AGA, which is supplying the fuel for the LNG-fueled ferry Viking Grace, is to convert an existing vessel, the Fjalir, into an LNG bunkering ship.

It will be used to provide LNG fuel to the Viking Grace (which is initially being fueled from the shoreside) and later to other ships in the Port of Stockholm.

The bunkering vessel will be tested with 1,000 tonnes of LNG, corresponding to a reduction of 300 tonnes of CO2 and 10 tonnes of SO2 in terms of equivalent emissions from traditional shipping fuels. The test results will be measured in close collaboration with the Swedish Transport Agency and the Stockholm County Administrative Board, the main authority in charge of environmental permits.

The results will enable the potential of such a bunkering vessel to be evaluated as well as the need for future permits to be defined with regards to an increasing use of LNG as a fuel in the shipping industry.

The project will be managed by the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency and is set to be completed by December 2013.