Axpo has signed a ten-year deal to charter an LNG bunkering vessel with Italy’s Gas and Heat SpA and the San Giorgio del Porto shipyard.
The project will be implemented in Italy and will see the deployment of a technology for continuous ship-to-truck operations. The vessel will be built in the San Giorgio’s shipyard in Piombino, Italy, with a capacity of up to 7,500 cubic metres and is expected to begin operations in 2025.
Active off the coast of Naples, the vessel will provide ship-to-ship and ship-to-truck services which entails the transfer of LNG to tanker trucks onshore, which then transport and distribute the LNG by road to final users.
With the industry expected to achieve a reduction of up to 40% in the carbon intensity of shipping by 2030, the LNG bunkering solution will provide a cleaner marine fuel in the mid-term and beyond.
… said Marco Saalfrank, Axpo Head of Continental Europe Merchant Trading
The Italian vessel will feature a flexible multi-truck bunkering skid mounted onboard to enable the loading of several trucks simultaneously, significantly reducing bunkering time, Axpo notes. In the future, the ship could also transport bio-LNG and ammonia.
We are pleased to be part of an important initiative that will help enable the transition to carbon neutrality and, for the first time in Europe, employ this new bunkering technology to supply markets with cleaner fuel.
… added Daniele Corti, Axpo Small Scale LNG Manager
The flagship project was set up in collaboration with the Italian government’s infrastructure and transport ministry, MIT, and the Central Tyrrhenian Sea and Naples port authorities.
