LNG

Grupo Ham, the Spanish company from Europe’s largest importing nation which has opened almost 100 filling stations amounting to around 25 percent of existing facilities in Western Europe for LNG-powered trucks and other vehicles, has opened another facility in the city of Seville.

HAM said it opened a new LNG service station in Dos Hermanas, Seville, located in 8 Río Viejo street of La Isla Industrial Estate, next to the Autovía del Sur, also known as the Andalucía highway, one of the six main highways in Spain and the main transportation route between the centre of Spain and the south of the Iberian Peninsula.

HAM has installed a mobile unit in Dos Hermanas that allows the refuelling of LNG for heavy vehicles and trucks.

“It has a hose that allows users to refuel quickly and safely, and a payment terminal where you can pay with any debit or credit card or the HAM Card for professional use,” said the company.

“With the new opening of HAM Dos Hermanas LNG, our network currently has more than 90 service stations, available on the main European and Spanish transport routes,” it added.

EU expansion

The Spanish group said that apart from Spain it now had an expanding European Union-wide service network of stations including Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland.

“At HAM Group we work in continuous contact with our clients, offering them products and services that are adapted to their real energy needs, respectful of the environment by reducing emissions of fine particles, oxides nitrous and CO2,” the company stated.

The group also recently launched a new concept of mobile and transportable service stations.

Its EDUX product has been developed by its subsidiary HAM Criogénica, together with HAM’s research and development team.

The EDUX service station allows owners and operators to store and supply LNG for all types of trucks and heavy vehicles, keeping the liquid sub-cooled and adapting to the optimal temperature of the different brands.

The mobile units offer fast re-fuelling for Volvo, Scania or Iveco LNG-powered trucks. At the same time, the units allow fuel filling for compressed natural gas in cars, light vehicles and trucks.

The group has also expanded its network by opening several natural gas stations in the South American nations of Chile and Peru.

“EDUX is a modern mobile service station, which is monitored remotely, by registering different parameters, always guaranteeing its perfect operation and allowing a   quick solution to any incident,” explained HAM.

Grupo Ham of Spain has opened its 100th liquefied natural gas filling station and now operates around 25 percent of existing facilities in Europe for LNG-powered trucks and other vehicles.

The Ham group said the latest LNG filling station was opened in Saint Quentin Fallavier in southeast France, reaffirming its leading role in the vehicular natural gas sector in the European Union and elsewhere.

The company’s network of LNG and compressed natural gas (CNG) facilities is expanding in a growing number of countries with more than 30 in Spain and the others spread around the EU with most of them located in Spain, France, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.

Ham has also established an LNG-CNG foothold in South America with filling stations in Chile and Peru.

“A report from the Association of Natural Gas and Biogas Vehicles, noted that in Europe there are 400 service stations that allow LNG refuelling and on one in four of facilities have been designed, built and commissioned by HAM, many of them being owned by us and forming part our network of service stations,” said the company.

Ham has also started developing networks in the newer entrants to the EU such as the Czech Republic, Finland, Poland and Slovakia, as well as non-EU countries like the UK and Switzerland.

“HAM as a trucking company as well was a pioneer in Spain in 2000 when it added to its fleet of 10 trucks, acquired in the US and powered by LNG, taking on a major environmental challenge with the aim of reducing polluting emissions and also building the first vehicular LNG plant in Europe for the refuelling of these vehicles,” explained the Barcelona-based company.

“Later, in 2009 we designed and built the first public vehicular natural gas service station in Spain, located in Abrera, Barcelona,” it added.

“We continue to bet on Vehicular Natural Gas, a rapidly developing market with great potential to achieve the decarbonisation of road transport,” stated Ham.

The company is also developing new concepts of fixed and mobile service stations, allowing easier expansion of the network.

Ham is also committed to adopting bio-LNG made from waste and will make more of it available over time.

“At Grupo HAM we continue to work and innovate, always working in direct contact with our customers, to offer the best products and services that adapt to their real energy needs,” declared the company.

French shipping company Brittany Ferries said its third chartered ferry powered by liquefied natural gas has been named the “Santoña” and it expects British passengers to remain its top customers even after the UK leaves the European Union.