Shell, Port of Antwerp Detail LNG Bunkering Investments

Engine manufacturer Wärtsilä has announced that its six-cylinder 20DF dual-fuel main engines will provide the propulsion for Shell’s fleet of 15 new LNG-fueled inland product tankers (called barges in Europe). The barges, to be built by Netherlands shipbuilder VEKA at a Polish yard, were ordered by Plouvier Transport NV and Intertrans Tankschiffahrt AG under a time charter agreement with a Shell subsidiary.

Shell will use the 300-foot product tankers to support its growing operations in the Netherlands and Germany. The company wanted LNG's small environmental footprint and low cost, but also desired the ability to switch to diesel fuels as needed. Additionally Shell suggested that it wants LNG to play a bigger role in the worldwide fuel mix and wants to support the growth of LNG bunkering in Europe.

Each barge will have a 6-cylinder Wärtsilä 20DF dual-fuel main engine, an LNGPac fuel gas handling system, and a Wärtsilä propeller with an HR nozzle. Deliveries are expected from 2016 through 2018.

Shell's barges will refuel with LNG from the Gas Access to Europe (GATE) terminal in Rotterdam.

Separately, the Port of Antwerp has announced that LNG will soon become “permanently available” for bunkering with construction of a new terminal.

"With the construction of a bunker station in 2017, LNG will become permanently available in the port at all times," stated the port authority. The port will start a bidding process for a concessionaire to operate the bunkering station in 2016.

The port, along with 30 partners all over Europe in the Rhine-Main-Danube LNG Master Plan, has focused on making LNG fueling and transport a reality for Europe's inland tanker fleet, which Shell's 15 new vessels will join shortly.

The tanker firm Chemgas Barging announced the first LNG-fueled European barge, the Sirocco, in 2014. The vessel was also developed as part of the Rhine-Main-Danube LNG Master Plan.