Transshipments boost Zeebrugge’s LNG terminal
Fluxys, the group overseeing Zeebrugge’s LNG terminal operations declared that the Belgian port hosted a record number of ship operations despite seeing a decline in loading and unloading operations, according to FleetMon.
It stated: “Zeebrugge’s LNG facility conducted a total of 172 ship operations during 2020, compared to 130 in the year before. What’s more, most of these operations were transshipments; coming from the Novatek-operated Yamal project in the Russian Arctic.”
“Our LNG services at the Zeebrugge terminal accommodate the need for low emission energy that comes with the energy transition and unlock an immediately available alternative for the shipping and trucking sectors to move away from high emission fuels, ” says Pascal De Buck, chief executive of Fluxys Belgium.
It also stated: “Data from Fluxys suggests that Zeebrugge hosted a total of 111 transshipments in 2020, compared to 38 in 2019.
“As for unloading-loading operations, it unloaded 50 cargoes in 2020, considerably lower than the 71 operations in 2019. Small scale LNG reloads too, dropped from 20 in 2019, to 10 this year.
“The Belgian unit of Fluxys also noted the rocketing truck loading operations taking place at the port, with 3195 trucks being loaded in 2020, marking a new annual record.
“Due to the pandemic, energy demands across the world, and the European Union in particular took a strong hit. The pandemic cut global natural gas and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) demand by about 4 percent in 2020 from record highs in 2019.”
