KC LNG's Y-piece Sets LNG Bunkering World Record

Elenger of Estonia has taken their LNG bunkering to the next level using KC LNG's revolutionary solution, the Y-piece. The results speak for themselves: a complete bunkering operation with four tank trailers done in less than an hour and a half.

In 2018, KC LNG released a new type of solution, the KC LNG Y-piece, with a promise that it would double the capacity of truck-to-ship LNG bunkering, thereby cutting the time spent down to half - or less.

Now, Estonian gas company Elenger has proven that it was not just an empty promise. On Friday September 6, Elenger performed its first four-trailer bunkering operation with the KC LNG Y-piece at the port of Hanko, Finland.

In just one hour 23 minutes,  Elenger was able to transfer 172m3 of LNG to the tank of M/V Auto Energy, a car carrier owned by UECC, from a total of four tank trailers (two at a time) — with optimal safety and no complications. This is a world record bunkering time and an enormous time saver for all parties involved.

Double the trucks, double the capacity

KC LNG's Y-piece is an adapter that allows two tank trailers to be connected instead of one, doubling the capacity of the fuelling process. If that is not enough, its design allows the owner to add a second Y-piece and bunker with up to four trailers at once, which puts the bunkering speed at 400 percent of traditional truck-to-ship bunkering.

It fits any kind of trailer and enables continuous operations as empty trailers can be swapped without the need to halt the process. The pay-off is a dramatic increase in bunkering efficiency and a lot of saved time and money for ship-owners and fuel suppliers.

A responsible solution for shipping

LNG is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to reducing emissions and climate impact in the shipping industry, as it is by far the cleanest burning fossil fuel available. Currently, one of the barriers to widespread LNG usage in shipping is the cost. By cutting down bunkering times dramatically, the Y-piece helps to break down this barrier and make LNG a more economically viable fuel.