Dutch Gate terminal in the Port of Rotterdam, owned by Gasunie and Vopak, saw lower LNG volumes last year as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the entire industry.
The Port of Rotterdam said in its 2020 report that total LNG throughput in the port reached 6.24 million tonnes, down 12.7 percent when compared to the year before.
Deliveries to the Gate terminal, which is a hub for all LNG volumes in the port, dropped 11.5 percent to 5.76 million tonnes, while outgoing volumes dipped 24.7 percent to 476,000 tonnes, the port said.
Worth mentioning here, the port also recently revealed a surge in LNG bunkering volumes.
Among several operations, the Dutch port hosted last year the world’s biggest LNG bunkering operation when the Total-chartered and MOL-owned Gas Agility delivered fuel to CMA CGM’s giant containership Jacques Saade.
Once delivered this year, the nine CMA CGM giants will be bunkering some 300,000 cbm of LNG in Rotterdam every year, substantially boosting the port’s throughput volumes in this segment.
The port of Rotterdam is a strong supporter of LNG as a bunker fuel and has developed one of the world’s biggest LNG fueling chains.
Moreover, a total of ten LNG bunkering vessels operate in Rotterdam’s port area, of which three are working on a permanent basis. Gate provides most of these LNG fuel volumes.