Americas News
Land Use Key to Green Fuel Bunkering Success: Montreal Port
The Canadian port of Montreal is preparing to invest in the development of green fuels on its land, Ship & Bunker has learned.
Speaking to the port authority's Daniel Dagenais after a presentation on the decarbonisation of short sea shipping at MEPC80, Dagenais elaborated on the authority's plans.
Green hydrogen is available in Quebec where it can be delivered from sites within the region. Canadian ports, unlike European ports, tend not to be close to large petrochemical clusters.
"We are looking to produce green hydrogen at the port for delivery and use by industrial players."
One such potential market is commercial trucks for containers which will be on the market by 2026.
"We want to be able to provide green hydrogen to them," he said.
For bunkering, the authority is considering green methanol. It will use land it controls as a conduit to facilitate the availability of green fuels.
"We will make real estate available so someone can operate a green methanol bunkering station on that real estate." The partner would provide the necessary infrastructure, the port the land.
"As a port authority, we have limits on finance and the authority is not an energy player per se," explained Dagenais. "But what we do have is access to shoreline property around the port."
"Lots from land that will be free in a few months' time and will be made available for this type of venture."
A request for expressions of interest will follow before the project is put out to tender with an overall timescale to completion of around three to five years, he added.
Dagenais is confident that the green fuels space will grow. While he acknowledged that investing in green fuels is a "calculated risk", he said the success of the port's shorepower provision which is used by around 40% cruise calls, showed that shipping and ports can adapt to new ways of doing things.
Dagenais is vice-president for port performance and sustainability at the Montreal Port Authority.
