Market Trends of Europe LNG Bunkering Industry
Ferries & OSV Segment to Dominate the Market
- Ferries are vessels used to carry cargo across the water. A passenger ferry is used as a water bus or taxi to travel from one place to another. Various ferries include double-ended, hydrofoil, hovercraft, catamaran, roll-on/ roll-off, cruise ferry (RoPax), fast RoPax ferry, and others.
- These vessels majorly operate on heavy fuel oil and marine gas oil. However, government regulations regarding the emission of sulfur, carbon dioxide, and other pollutants encourage using LNG as fuel in vessels.
- In the next five years, the LNG-based ferries and OSVs are projected to increase, considering the large number of LNG-fueled ferries and OSVs on order. It is likely to increase the demand for LNG bunkering services in the forecast period.
- European Green Deal, formed in 2019 by the European Commission, is a set of policy initiatives to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050. It briefly underlines the importance of LNG for achieving this aim and emphasizes the usage of LNG as fuel for trucks and marine vessels.
- However, with the regulations related to sulfur content in the fuel, the option of using LNG is attractive to these types of vessels. It is because of the operating profile and economic, regulatory, and environmental reasons.
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Norway to Dominate the Market
- Norway is always a pioneer country in the global LNG bunkering market. In 2000, the world's first LNG-fueled vessels, the Glutra car and passenger ferry, were made operational in Norway. Seventeen years later, in 2017, Hammerfest, Europe's largest dedicated LNG bunkering station with 1250 m3 storage and a pump capacity of 90 tons/hour, was operational in Norway.
- The focus on climate issues remains high in Norway. The Norwegian government is setting ambitious and stern emission norms to align itself with the greenhouse gas emissions targets of the Paris Agreement and within the EU emission standards.
- To counter the increasing global concerns regarding the harmful emission of pollutants from marine transportation, Norway invested early in LNG ships and was helped by the Norwegian NOx fund. The Norwegian government initiated it.
- Moreover, the country's government is focusing on exporting LNG through a pipeline to other European countries to reduce the domination of Russia in the region. In early 2020, the pipeline system operator, Gassco, announced that the company approved its LNG pipeline to boost its small-scale LNG exports from the Arctic Barents Sea.
- Hence, this significantly increased the demand for LNG bunkering facilities in Norway during the forecast period.
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