LNG

French major TotalEnergies has launched its first LNG bunkering operation for containerships at the West Mediterranean Port of Marseille Fos with an LNG-powered 15,000 twenty-foot units (TEU) containership re-fuelled.

The “CMA CGM Bali” operates on the Asia-to-South Europe route for Marseille-based shipping line CMA CGM.

“The containership was refuelled by the bunkering vessel ‘Gas Vitality’, which has 6,000 cubic metres of capacity operated a ship-to-ship transfer alongside the Eurofos container terminal, while the containership carried out cargo operations simultaneously,” explained TotalEnergies.

The “Gas Vitality” is the second LNG bunker vessel chartered by TotalEnergies from the owner, Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines.

“This entire operation underlines a solid collaborative teamwork across the French maritime industry including the involvement of local port authorities to enable the vessels’ safe operatorship, and the commitments of all the parties to support the growing role of LNG,” said Jérôme Leprince-Ringuet, Vice-President at ToatlEnergies Marine Fuels.

“TotalEnergies is delighted to successfully complete Marseille’s first LNG bunkering operation of a containership,” added Leprince-Ringuet.

“Her deployment underscores the company’s commitment to support the French port’s ambition to be an LNG bunkering hub for the
Mediterranean region,” stated the executive.

TotalEnergies has actively invested in LNG infrastructure, critical to support its shipping customers’ uptake of LNG as a marine fuel.

The company has been operating an even larger bunkering vessel, the 18,600 cubic metres capacity “Gas Agility” since November 2020 at the Dutch Port of Rotterdam.

It was at Rotterdam that the “Gas Agility” completed the first LNG bunkering operation of the “CMA CGM Jacques Saade”, the largest dual-fuel LNG-powered containership in the world.

“TotalEnergies will also commence operations of a third LNG bunker vessel to serve Singapore,” it noted.

“The company was awarded an LNG bunker supplier licence for a five-year term starting on January 1st, 2022,” it added.

In the global LNG market TotalEnergies is the world's second-largest publicly traded player and will have a global portfolio of nearly 50 million tonnes per annum from after 2025.

The Paris-based company has stakes in 10 LNG liquefaction and export plants worldwide in Angola, Australia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the US, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Russia and Qatar.

Elengy, the French LNG import terminal owner, and TotalEnergies said that France’s first LNG bunkering vessel, “Gas Vitality”, has loaded a cargo at the Fos Cavaou LNG terminal, located west of the Mediterranean port of Marseille.

The French port of Le Havre has entered the liquefied natural gas era by hosting the bunkering of the latest LNG-powered newbuilt polar explorer vessel, “Le Commandant Charcot”, owned by cruise liner operator La Compagnie du Ponant.

The latest addition to the Ponant fleet will offer the farthest reaches of the Arctic and Antarctic regions to luxury travellers with a ship using the cleanest maritime fuel available.

Le Havre has also become an LNG bunkering site as the second-largest commercial port and the largest container port in France.

The Polar cruise liner “Le Commandant Charcot” is named after the renowned French polar scientist and explorer Jean-Baptiste Charcot and is the first hybrid-electric polar exploration ship powered by LNG.

The ship is the first passenger ship equipped with high-pressure membrane LNG tanks offering up to two months of autonomy on natural gas, greater flexibility in its bunkering and operations and guaranteeing enhanced safety.

“The ship ‘Le Commandant Charcot’ paves the way for new and more environmentally friendly natural gas propulsion methods and helps to meet the carbon-dioxide reduction targets set out in the Paris Agreement.” said Hervé Gastinel, Chief Executive of Ponant.

Switching

Gastinel noted that reducing emissions is crucial and “Le Commandant Charcot” will operate on LNG, which is “currently the most environmentally friendly” maritime fuel available.

Switching to LNG in the shipping sector removes completely sulfur oxides and particle emissions and reduces nitrogen-oxide emissions by up to 85 percent.

LNG also emits at least 20 percent less CO2 when compared to traditional maritime fuels.

The fuel for the Le Havre bunkering operation was provided by Finnish natural gas and LNG distribution company Gasum.

“We have been working on this natural gas powered polar exploration ship project for six years and this is already the second LNG bunkering operation we have carried out with Gasum since the delivery of the ship on 29th July 2021,” said Ponant.

Ponant explained that the ship reached the Geographic North Pole for the first time on 6th September 2021, using LNG throughout its journey.

Maritime traffic contributes up to 3 percent of the world’s total greenhouse-gas emissions.

Gasum is a growing supplier of LNG fuel for shipping and is known to offer premium supplies as well as expertise in bunkering services.

“This delivery marks an important step in our cooperation with Ponant,” said Jacob Granqvist, Vice President of Gasum Maritime.

“At the same time we expand our delivery network to a port as significant as Le Havre. Our services for maritime operators all over Europe are becoming even more relevant,” added Granqvist.

Gasum, the Finnish state-owned LNG distribution company and regasification and liquefaction infrastructure owner in the Nordic region, is expanding its geographic reach to France after already entering the Antwerp, Amsterdam and Rotterdam region, also known as the ARA area.

“As part of this strategy, Gasum has now obtained a licence to deliver maritime LNG in France, allowing it to add French ports and waters to its supply network,” said Gasum.

The new LNG distribution licence will allow Gasum to deliver to maritime customers in France and to offer LNG, a cleaner shipping fuel, to a larger number of customers.

In addition, the licence will improve the geographic availability of LNG to more European ports.

“Obtaining this licence marks another milestone in our quest to increase the outreach of our maritime LNG deliveries,” said Jacob Granqvist, Vice President at Gasum.

“It underlines Gasum’s commitment to act as a reliable European maritime LNG supplier,” added Granqvist.

At the end of 2020, Gasum extended its bunkering activities to include the ARA area.

The expansion is possible due to a new agreement with Norwegian oil and gas major Equinor for the ARA, an important trading hub in the rivers and canals and ports network where barges and small ships and tankers conduct trading and supply operations.

Gasum is now delivering LNG bunkering supplies to Equinor in the ARA. Gasum and Equinor have been co-operating on various projects and LNG supply chain development for Equinor’s vessels since 2011.

The Finnish company has been fuelling Equinor’s oil tankers that are shipping crude oil from North Sea to Swedish and Baltic ports.

The bunkering is mainly performed by Gasum’s small-scale bunkering vessels such as the “Coralius” and the “Kairos”.

Gasum owns a network of LNG import terminals, a small-scale liquefaction plant and an expanding chain of LNG fuel stations for vehicles in the Nordic region.

Its terminals include Sweden’s Nynashamn small-scale facility with 20,000 cubic metres capacity of storage and purchased in April 2020 by Gasum from Germany’s Linde AG.

The Finnish company also has a small-scale liquefaction plant in Risavika, near Stavanger in Norway, in addition to owning and operating other small regasification and import terminals in Ora and Alesund in Norway and Lysekil in Sweden.

It also partly owns the Pori LNG import terminal in Finland and has a stake in the Finnish Tornio Magna regasification facility.

The Tornio terminal in Northern Finland is the largest in the Nordic region.

It is located on the Swedish border which allows it to serve Gasum’s customers in Finland, Sweden and Norway.

French energy major Total and Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines have attended a naming ceremony in the Dutch port of Rotterdam for the “Gas Agility”, the world’s largest LNG bunkering vessel.

French energy major Total and Japanese shipping company Mitsui Osk Lines have signed a long-term charter contract for a second large LNG bunkering vessel to be delivered from China in 2021 and deployed in the Mediterranean