By
Rebecca Gibson |
Fjord Line, the Port of Hirtshals and HMN Gashandel have joined forces to develop Denmark’s first LNG plant that will harness gas from the North Sea to fuel ships.
All three parties have signed a letter of intent and allotted planning funds to build the plant, which is expected to be constructed within the next two years.
“In Denmark, we have a well-developed natural gas distribution network and can tap gas directly from those pipelines to cool it down into LNG,” said Henrik Iversen, vice president of HMN Gashandel, a subsidiary of HMN Naturgas, Denmark’s largest natural gas company. “It seems a bit absurd to import LNG when we have everything needed to produce it ourselves from natural gas piped in from the North Sea.”
Fjord Line, which operates two LNG-powered cruise ferries between Denmark and Norway, recently opened Denmark’s first LNG refuelling system, which is in Hirtshals and needs to be refilled regularly with imported LNG. The planned LNG plant will allow LNG to be produced in Denmark.
“The production facility will be the finishing touch in the ‘green’ strategy Fjord Line launched five years ago,” said Morten Larsen, managing and technical director of Fjord Line Denmark. “Producing our own LNG means the potential in that strategy can be fully realised. It means we can optimise the operation of our two new LNG-powered cruise ferries and refuel them with LNG in both Norway and Denmark.”
LNG fuel eliminates sulphur and particle emissions, reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 92% and lowers greenhouse gases by 20-30% compared to conventional fuel oil. Consequently, using this type of fuel will enable ships to meet the January 2015 International Maritime Organization regulations, which prohibit the use of fuel with more than 0.1% sulphur content in the Baltic Sea, North Sea and the English Channel.
“The facility will have a big impact on shipping throughout Scandinavia because it offers a real opportunity to adopt environmentally friendly practices at sea,” said Anker Laden-Andersen, chairman of the board at Port of Hirtshals. “Hirtshals is already a major transport hub for the shipping industry in the Baltic Sea region. This is one of the world’s busiest shipping areas and this facility will allow us to meet future demand for LNG gas.”