The LNG floating terminal will ensure the availability of gas in Finland far into the future and replaces gas supplies that Finland earlier imported from Russia. When fully laden, the LNG floating terminal vessel Exemplar holds approximately 68 000 t of LNG. The project will also enable gas deliveries to the Baltic states and even to Poland through the Balticconnector pipeline.
“Completion of the port structures is a really important milestone in the entire LNG floating terminal project. Everything is now in place for Exemplar to safely anchor in the deep harbour in Inkoo in December and connect to Gasgrid’s gas transmission network. The estimated arrival time is 25 – 28 December, depending on weather conditions. Our goal the whole time has been to be able to start using the LNG aboard the LNG terminal vessel already this winter. We are now very close to reaching this goal,” said Olli Sipilä, Gasgrid Finland’s CEO.
The 291 m long Exemplar will be fastened to steel bollards attached to dolphins anchored to the bedrock by a total of more than 112 over 30 m long bored piles. The structural strengths and tensile strengths are many times those used for normal shipping operations. In addition, a 2.2 km connecting gas pipeline has been built from the port to Gasgrid’s gas transmission network.
“The demanding contracting work on port structures and the connecting pipeline has now been completed. We kept within the exceptionally short timeline planned. Building the port structures for the LNG floating terminal vessel employed an average of around 100 construction and design professionals. The work was carried out in excellent cooperation with professionals from our able and reliable partnership network such as Boskalis Terramare and Ramboll,”added Esa Hallivuori, Head of the LNG Floating Terminal Project at Gasgrid Finland. “We have actively communicated the progress of the project also to local residents.”
