LNG throughput in the Dutch port of Rotterdam increased in the first quarter of this year as Europe continued to boost LNG imports and demand for LNG as fuel rose.
The port, home to Gasunie’s and Vopak’s Gate LNG import terminal, said that total LNG throughput reached 3.11 million mt in the January-March period.
This marks a rise of 3.6 percent compared to 3.01 million mt in the same period last year when it rose 14.3 percent year-on-year.
Incoming LNG volumes increased 2.1 percent in the first quarter to 3.04 million mt, while outgoing volumes surged 125.5 percent to 76,000 mt, according to the Rotterdam port’s report.
In 2023, LNG throughput rose 3.7 percent to 11.92 mt as Europe continues to import large amounts of LNG to replace pipeline imports of Russian natural gas and due to record LNG bunkering volumes, the port previously said.
106 vessels called at Gate
Gate LNG terminal continues to be very busy as its owners work to further expand the facility in order to accommodate high LNG demand.
“With 106 vessels calling at Gate in the first quarter we continue to play our crucial role in the supply of gas to Northwest Europe and of LNG to the maritime sector,” Gate’s commercial manager, Stefaan Adriaens, told LNG Prime.
Adriaens said that 45 of these vessels unloaded LNG at the facility during the period.
As previously reported, the Gate LNG terminal handled a record number of vessels last year mainly due to a rise in demand for LNG as fuel.
Including unloading and loading operations, the LNG terminal handled 328 vessels last year.
The LNG terminal currently has two large LNG jetties and one dedicated small-scale jetty.
Gate’s small-scale jetty, which launched operations in 2016, handled record 151 vessels, loading close to 900,000 cbm of LNG last year.
Last month, Gate issued a non-binding call for expression of interest in small-scale LNG ship loading services at the planned fourth jetty.
The new jetty would be located across the existing small-scale jetty.
Gate could also get the fifth LNG tank in the future but this project is still in the early stages of development, Adriaens said in January.
