LNG first for Bremenports
The ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven are doing much to address the issue of air quality. Not only are they engaged in facilitating LNG infrastructure, they are proving that the ports’ own operations can be cleaned up.
So, the port complex is to demonstrate the feasibility of equipping its own newest 68m hopper barge with LNG engines. Further, it will be LNG fuelled rather than the more common dual fuel engines Karina Wieseler of Bremenports told MJ, with a pair of 300-400kW pure LNG main engines fuelled from a pair of Type C tanks, probably holding 12m3 in total. There will also be a traditional 150kW auxiliary diesel unit, “making it a gas-diesel-electric system” she added.
This hopper barge will be the first of its kind anywhere in the world although its function remains quite mundane: the usual transportation of dredged silt in and around the port areas, accomplished by a hold capacity of around 840m3. It will join the current fleet which runs between the two ports (Bremen and Bremerhaven) and the dumping grounds in the Weser Estuary or the storage site in Bremen-Seehausen where contaminated dredging material is treated for re-use.
So, what makes this viable is that the barge’s operational sphere will keep it close to the two LNG bunkering facilities currently planned: one being constructed in Bremerhaven and one in Bremen, both coming into service late 2015 or early 2016.
This first vessel is now just going through the tender stage and should be in operation by the end of 2015; however, this is just the start of the story. Ms Wieseler explained that there are currently six hopper barges in operation “and we have to renew all of them within the next five to eight years, one by one”, so if the overall operational picture for LNG is positive regarding costs and daily operation, “Bremenports will try to equip as many as possible of the new buildings in the future”.
By Stevie Knight
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