The Port of Gothenburg is ready for methanol bunkering ship-to-ship
The Gothenburg Port Authority is today publishing general methanol operating regulations for ship-to-ship bunkering. The port is also making arrangements to setup a value chain with the ambition to become the primary bunkering hub for renewable methanol in Northern Europe, according to the company's release.
By 2030 the Port of Gothenburg have set out the ambitious target to reduce shipping emissions by 70% within the port area. One key step to reach this goal is to provide a variety of shipping fuels that contribute to bring down emissions – in the port as well as on a global scale. Many initiatives are taken around the world with net zero vessels now in the order books.
As this is a general approval for the port, each terminal will do a complementary risk assessment but this is more of a formality when the general guidelines now are in place. For example, the Port of Gothenburg has already handled methanol in the port since 2015 when Stena Line started to bunker Stena Germanica truck to vessel.
“Now we hope to see Maersk, X-press Feeders and many other shipping lines routing their new methanol vessels to the North of Europe and we would be delighted to welcome them with open arms to the largest port in Scandinavia,” said Elvir Dzanic, CEO at the Gothenburg Port Authority.
X-Press Feeders is the world´s largest independent feeder carrier, and one of the major players dedicated to introducing methanol as a shipping fuel on a larger scale already in 2023. With the introduction of 8 state of the art 1,170 TEU container ships capable of being operated on carbon neutral methanol, X-Press Feeders is soon one step closer to reaching its target of having net-zero emissions from operations by 2050.
The shipping industry needs a variety of fuels in the future, and renewable products like eMethanol is one important fuel to reach Net zero targets. Therefore, the Port of Gothenburg is also making arrangements to setup a value chain with the determination to provide eMethanol in the port by 2024.