Spain is continuing to boost the use of LNG as fuel in order to slash emissions in the maritime but also vehicle transport sector.
The country’s largest terminal operator and the main promoter of LNG as fuel, Enagas said in a recent update bunkering operations in Spain increased fourfold this year in the period up to November.
According to Enagas, eleven Spanish ports now offer LNG bunkering services, compared to six in 2019.
Enagas did not provide the exact info for single bunkering operations up to November but Spanish ports hosted 562 operations during the January-September period. This is already almost three times more than the entire 2019.
Spanish ports hosted last year a total of 195 LNG ship bunkering operations, three times more then the year before.
These numbers continued to rise this year as LNG bunkering becomes more flexible through truck, ship and plant solutions.
To remind, Enagas recently received a 11.3 million euro ($13.8 million) grant from the EU to build a 12,500-cbm LNG bunkering vessels that would work in the Port of Algeciras from 2023.
This project worth about 56.4 million euros is a joint intiative by Enagas’ small-scale LNG unit, Scale Gas, and the Port Authority of Algeciras Bay. Additionally, the project is a part of the LNGhive2 strategy.
Enagas says this new vessel would join the 20 bunkering barges already supplying LNG around the world and will strengthen the role of Spain and its ports in the field of LNG bunkering.
According to DNV GL, there are 177 LNG-powered ships operating around the globe with further 230 on order.