Rotterdam LNG bunkering surges again

Sales of gas as a marine fuel close to double in just three months at Europe’s biggest port

The use of LNG to fuel ships, or LNG bunkering, in Europe’s largest port of Rotterdam nearly doubled in the third quarter, compared to just the previous three months, to 11,075t, latest data from the port authority shows. Volumes have risen substantially this year as the marine industry begins a shift to less polluting fuels. Rotterdam’s throughput in the first nine months of this year of 22,747t of LNG for bunkering is more than double the volumes seen in the previous three years combined (see FIG 1), as the shipping industry increasingly begins to use LNG as part of its response to January’s IM0 2020 regulations change. The Port of Rotterdam, which in 2013 was Europe’s first port to permit