The Port of Gothenburg is aiming to become the primary bunkering hub for renewable methanol in Northern Europe
To acheive this aim, Gothenburg Port Authority is working on setting up a value chain and is publishing general methanol operating regulations for ship-to-ship bunkering.
The guidelines are a formality because the port has handled methanol since 2015 when Stena Line started to bunker Stena Germanica truck to vessel, but each terminal will also be undergoing their own risk assessments.
“Now we hope to see Maersk, X-Press Feeders and many other shipping lines routing their new methanol vessels to the North of Europe and we would be delighted to welcome them with open arms to the largest port in Scandinavia,” said Elvir Dzanic, CEO at the Gothenburg Port Authority.
Ambitious targets
By 2030, the Port of Gothenburg has set out the ambitious target to reduce shipping emissions by 70% within the port area.
One key step to reach this goal is to provide a variety of shipping fuels that contribute to bring down emissions – in the port as well as on a global scale.
X-Press Feeders is one of the major players dedicated to introducing methanol as a shipping fuel on a larger scale already in 2023. With the introduction of eight state of the art 1,170 teu container ships capable of being operated on carbon neutral methanol, the operator will benefit from the port’s future fuel commitment.
“I am happy to see that Port of Gothenburg is working proactively to facilitate the bunkering of Methanol. It is encouraging as we need the ports to be ready when we are to decide where to route our first line of methanol propelled vessels,” said Sven Siemsen, senior manager marketing Europe at X-Press Feeders.
”The shipping industry needs a variety of fuels in the future and renewable products like eMethanol* is one important fuel to reach Net zero targets. Therefore, the Port of Gothenburg is also making arrangements to setup a value chain with the determination to provide eMethanol in the port by 2024.”
X-Press Feeders is planning for large scale storage of methanol with storage operators in the port when the demand is in place.
Meanwhile, green electrofuel producer Liquid Wind has also welcomed the news which it said will allow both it and its value chain collaborators to establish multiple production facilities in Sweden and other Nordic countries, putting Sweden at the forefront of the global fuel export market.
