The German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) is funding the construction of three new bunker ships for LNG with a total of approximately 62 million euros.
The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Dr Robert Habeck, handed over the corresponding funding notifications at Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft – the future shipyard of the three new vessels – to the shipping companies forming a partnership involving Nordic Hamburg Group, Titan LNG, and WESMAR.
With the help of the funding, the first projects can be realised by way of the Directive on Funding for the Construction of Refuelling Vessels for LNG and Sustainable Renewable Fuel Alternatives in Shipping.
Specifically, three bunker vessels with a tank capacity of 4,500 m3 each will be built to supply LNG to adjacent ships in German and European seaports.
In addition to being a source of energy for natural gas supply, LNG is also considered an environmentally friendly alternative for conventional marine fuels and a bridge fuel for renewable fuels such as bio-LNG and synthetic LNG (SNG).
In addition, the technological transformation path for a later use of ammonia can also be depicted. The three bunker ships are already being designed for this purpose so that they are suitable for future upgrading for the use of ammonia.
In the long term, ammonia can play an important role as a climate-friendly maritime fuel, as it can be efficiently produced from renewable sources and consumed without producing CO2.
The three new bunker vessels will expand the overall capacity for efficient and environmentally friendly ‘ship-to-ship’ LNG bunkering offers. The new ships are to be built in Germany. A significant part of the value creation for this innovative shipbuilding technology will be provided by the German maritime industry.
