Dutch LNG Hub Eyes Expansion on Rising Transport Fuel Interest

The owners of the Dutch liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Rotterdam are studying the possibility of opening a third jetty to accommodate small LNG ships after a surge in interest in using the fuel for transport, a spokesman said on Friday.

The Dutch Gate terminal is one of a handful of shipping hubs worldwide which are testing the demand for infrastructure needed to transport LNG that can be used to fuel ships and trucks.

Experts estimate that as much as 30 percent of new vessels will be fuelled by LNG by 2020 and that its share of global bunker fuel demand could rise to 8 percent by 2025.

"Given this growth potential of small-scale LNG and the interest we see, the two main shareholders of Gate are studying the possibility of developing a third jetty in the second half of 2015 specifically for small scale LNG," said a spokesman for the terminal.

The two shareholders of the facility are Dutch companies Gasunie and Vopak.

The Rotterdam Gate LNG terminal will re-export its first small-scale LNG cargo in September, after Dutch utility Eneco signed a deal with industrial gases company AGA Gas to supply LNG for small-scale transport usage.

Shipping company Anthony Veder will transport the LNG from Rotterdam to Sweden's Nynashamn terminal.

A spokesman for Eneco declined to give further details of the LNG supply deal.

Earlier this year, the AGA Gas took delivery of its first LNG-fuelling vessel which it uses to fuel a cruise liner.

The Netherlands expects that the business of using LNG for transport can generate 2.7 billion euros for the country by 2030, a study, which was released by the Nationaal LNG Platform, showed this week.

The body, which promotes the use of LNG for transport in the Netherlands, expects that 50 inland navigation vessels and 500 trucks will be powered by LNG by 2015, compared with 2 vessels and 100 trucks today.

Reporting by Karolin Schaps; Editing by David Evans (C) Reuters 2013.