Excelerate’s FSRU arrives in Germany

Excelsior’s AIS data shows that the unit arrived offshore Wilhemshaven from Rotterdam on Wednesday.

LNG Prime invited DET to comment on the chartered unit’s arrival and provide further information about the commissioning process.

“The regasification vessel will be temporarily anchored in the German Bight,” a DET spokesman said.

“We assume that the Excelsior will dock at the new island pier in Wilhelmshaven (LNG Terminal Wilhelmshaven 02) before the end of April,” he said.

In 2023, the FSRU arrived at the Navantia yard in El Ferrol, Spain, for a planned stopover before its job in Wilhelmshaven.

However, the launch of DET’s second Wilhelmshaven LNG terminal had been postponed several times, and the FSRU left the yard earlier this month.

The DET spokesman told LNG Prime at the time that the FSRU would first head to Rotterdam to prepare for its deployment in Wilhelmshaven.

In Wilhelmshaven, the FSRU will be located at a new offshore jetty, which was completed last year.

DET’s second terminal in Wilhelmshaven will have a capacity of about 4 bcm per year.

The company currently operates the Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven 1 FSRU-based terminals.

DET is also working on the Stade FSRU-based terminal.

However, the company recently terminated the contract related to the Stade FSRU-based facility with compatriot Hanseatic Energy Hub, the developer of the onshore LNG terminal in Stade.

First Wilhelmshaven FSRU relocated

Germany’s first FSRU-based import facility in Wilhelmshaven features the 170,000-cbm FSRU Hoegh Esperanza, owned by Norway’s Hoegh Evi and chartered by the German government.

DET said in a statement that the Wilhelmshaven LNG terminal will be carrying out scheduled maintenance work on the superstructure of the jetty at the Voslapper Groden transshipment facility.

At the same time, the port company Niedersachsen Ports is carrying out dredging work in the area of the FSRU berth.

In preparation, Hoegh Esperanza left its berth on April 22 and will temporarily be located offshore.

The FSRU was located not far from Excelsior on Wednesday, as its AIS data shows.

Once the work has been completed, Hoegh Esperanza will return to the Wilhelmshaven jetty, DET said.

(This article was updated to include comments by a DET spokesman.)