Today, the Fos Cavaou LNG terminal received the Al Mafyar Q - Max tanker – the very first of its kind in France. The vessel belongs to the Q - max class: the largest existing tankers for transporting Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG *), with a total fleet of 14 worldwide, said in the company's press release. This giant of the seas is 345 m etres long and 54 metres w ide, and can carry up to 266 , 000 cubic metres of LNG – equivalent to the usage of a city such as Lyon (53 0,000 inhabitants) in a year . The access to the Fos Cavaou terminal to receive Q - Max ships involved close cooperation between the company Fosmax LNG , the services of the port of Marseille Fos – especially the Harbour Master’s Office – and the port services, in particular the docking pilots . In their premises , the pilots carried out simulations for vessel approach and berthing in order to be able to re ceive the Al Mafyar in the safest possible conditions .
Located at the entrance of the port of Fos - sur - Mer, the Fos Cavaou LNG terminal is designed to receive all kinds of vessels. It enjoys both a strategic location on the Mediterranean and an optimal nau tical situation ( low - amplitude tide and out of the way of port traffic , which is a safety factor when manoeuvring ships ). Thanks to its location, it can receive imports both from sources of supply that are nearby – such as North Africa – and further away – such as the Middle East, West Africa , which are major areas of LNG production. Since it became operational in 2010, the terminal has received more than 180 vessels , a quarter of which were “ Q - Flex ” (210 000 m 3 ) , latest - generation ships simila rly to the “ Q - Max ”.
Fos Cavaou is one of Europe’s most dynamic LNG terminals, with a rate of use of over 50% ( while the average rate of use of European terminals is about 3 0 %) , which amounts to an average of 5 vessels per month. Its capacity is sold by the company Fosmax LNG , which strives to offer increased flexibility by proposing new services each year , including re loading services (4 re loading operations since late 2012) .