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UECC performs first truck-to-ship bio-LNG operation in Spain

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LNG Industry,


United European Car Carriers (UECC) has performed the first-ever truck-to-ship refuelling operation of bio-LNG in Spain to widen access to supplies of the sustainable fuel and bolster the country’s circular economy.

In the landmark event at the Port of Vigo overseen by the president of the port, bio-LNG supplied by Naturgy from a biomethane production plant in the surrounding Galicia province was pumped directly from a tanker truck into the tanks of UECC’s multi-fuel LNG battery hybrid pure car and truck carrier, Auto Advance.

“This is an important step as it is the first time bio-LNG has been delivered by truck to ship in the whole of Spain. We view Spain as a promising market for biomethane production and so it’s great to get this first delivery over the line,” said UECC’s Energy & Sustainability Manager, Daniel Gent.

The delivery allows the leading sustainable carrier in the European shortsea RoRo trade to diversify its regional sources of supply for bio-LNG beyond its main hub of Zeebrugge where it has a long-term supply agreement in place with Titan Clean Fuels.

“We are trying to promote the growth of the wider small scale bio-LNG supply network,” Gent explained.

Another aspect of this diversification is that it also represents the first physical molecule delivery of the fuel – instead of mass balanced – as UECC explores multiple alternative delivery pathways to broaden its bio-LNG portfolio.

UECC is boosting uptake of the fuel in line with expansion of its Sail for Change sustainability initiative launched last summer in which bio-LNG is being bunkered on the company’s five dual and multi-fuel LNG PCTCs for several major vehicle manufacturers to cut their Scope 3 emissions.

As well as contributing to its customers’ decarbonisation efforts, UECC is providing fuel demand to support renewable energy development by Naturgy, which is involved in numerous innovative projects to convert agricultural and livestock waste into biomethane, strengthening the regional circular economy.

Naturgy, in a joint venture with Reganosa and Repsol, is looking to produce 1 TWh/y of biomethane from treatment of animal slurry and other waste sources, which would cover 7% of Galicia’s annual gas import requirements and result in a reduction of 500 000 tpy of carbon dioxide.

Gent says that bio-LNG “is an excellent fuel with good sustainability criteria” that delivers a reduction of around 5 t of CO2-e/t supplied. “The production facility uses carbon capture and the feedstock used means it has an overall negative carbon intensity on a well-to-wake basis,” he added.

This means that bio-LNG is well aligned with fuel requirements under FuelEU Maritime (FEUM) that is intended to promote uptake of alternative low-carbon fuels. UECC is now reaping the benefits of its proactive efforts to evaluate and adopt such fuels to generate a compliance surplus under the new regulation.

“Securing additional sources of renewable fuel contributes to our decarbonisation pathway, which includes not only FEUM compliance, lower EU ETS costs and increased CII rating, but is also a key element of our corporate long-term sustainability strategy to hit net zero by 2040,” Gent concluded. “We hope the bio-LNG truck delivery in Spain will be the first of many.”

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/small-scale-lng/14012025/uecc-performs-first-truck-to-ship-bio-lng-operation-in-spain/

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