Skangas Bullish on Prospects for LNG Bunkers

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday March 19, 2018

Skangas AS (Skangas) today delivered a bullish outlook for its prospects in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker.

Having witnessed a rise in demand for the alternative marine fuel in the Nordics Marine Market, Skangas says it expects demand for LNG bunkers to increase significantly during the coming years.

"The market has been waiting for the LNG bunkering vessels," Skangas explained as its rational for the rise.

Having completed 1,000 LNG bunkering operations in 2017, representing what it says is a 60% increase over previous years, the company said the number of operations performed during Q1 2018 so far was already higher then in the same period last year.

"As more and more operators convert their ships to clean fuel with LNG and dual-fuelled engines to power them, demand has risen significantly," said Gunnar Helmen, Sales Manager - Marine for Skangas.

"This is particularly true in European waters where, until recently, most of the traffic consisted of ferries and RoPax cruise ferries routinely traveling set routes. Today, the supply pattern is more diverse due to the use of a greater variety of vessels, that require different types of bunkering solutions. And we are responding directly by offering a number of solutions for this market."

Of the 1,000 LNG bunkering operations, 60% were said to be via truck-to-ship, 38% terminal-to-ship, and 2% ship-to-ship.

As Ship & Bunker previously reported, the company's first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation was performed last September by Coralius.