EMEA News
Rotterdam's Inefficiencies Will Be Our Gain: GTI Denmark
GTI Denmark, the company behind the proposed liquified natural (LNG) gas bunkering and export terminal in north Denmark, is confident that its business model will work.
Put simply, GTI aims to be an export facility offering LNG storage as well as ship-to-ship and at berth bunkering for ships seeking the alternative marine fuel.
"The lack of infrastructure for LNG bunkering is one of the main reasons that ship operators have held back on the new fuel," company CEO Amy M Ball told Ship & Bunker.
But she is confident that is going to change given the volume of LNG in production. "It will need somewhere to go," she said.
Ball says that the Frederikshavn project is in the right position to benefit from the inevitable growth in the demand for LNG from shipping plying the Baltic and North Sea shipping lanes.
Feeder ship traffic in the Baltic, for example, is one segment that the Frederikshavn project could tap into particularly as such ships are seen as likely early takers of LNG marine fuel.
A company briefing note on the project says the aim is to provide a single access point for a range of maritime services and for the storage of oil and gas.
The briefing note also picks on the fact that a logistics hub in northern Denmark could become a viable alternative to Rotterdam.
"We are not aiming for the Danish domestic market. This is an export project," Ball said. And the difficulties associated with using the region's biggest energy trading hub, namely Rotterdam, should work in its favour.
"Rotterdam can be very inefficient," said Ball referring to the delays getting in and out of the port. "We will be offering a competitive service both on fees and time taken to access the services."
The LNG bunkering terminal at Frederikshavn is currently at the design stage. Ball said that it should be in operation by the second half of 2019.
