Liquefied natural gas bunkering operations surged in Spain last year as fueling infrastructure expanded and more LNG-powered vessels joined the global fleet.
Spanish ports hosted last year a total of 741 LNG ship bunkering operations, almost four times more than the year before, according to Spain’s Gasnam, an association that supports the promotion of LNG as fuel.
To remind, LNG Prime already reported on this surge in December based on data from Enagas, the country’s largest terminal operator and the main promoter of LNG as fuel.
Furthermore, Gasnam says Spanish ports supplied about 122,058 cbm of LNG during last year’s bunkering operation.
About 68.5% of these supplies ended up in LNG-powered ferries, 31.1% in cruise ships, and 0.4% in other types of vessels, the association said.
In addition, ports conducted most of these operations by a truck-to-ship method using multiple vehicles.
The number of ports offering LNG bunkering operations also increased from six to nine. This includes Algeciras, Almería, Barcelona, Bilbao, Denia, Huelva, Malaga, Tenerife and Valencia.
On top of this, LNG bunkering received a boost from the Spanish government last year as new LNG bunkering tolls came into force from October, Gasnam said.