Barcelona positions port to win big in what many hope to be an LNG bonanza
 Having failed to attract Asian cargo to itself from the Northern Range, the Port of Barcelona has now set itself to become the liquified natural gas (LNG) port of tomorrow.
Barcelona has the advantage of ample availability of LNG and compressed natural gas (CNG) due to the location of Europe's first ever main regasification plant at the port, owned and run by Spain's energy giant Enagas, which owns and operates the nation's gas grid. The corporation also owns four LNG regasification terminals in the country, at Huelva, Barcelona, Cartagena and Gijon.
And with the upcoming IMO 2020 sulphur fuel regulation for ships, the Port of Barcelona believes in the profitability of establishing LNG and CNG as alternative and more sustainable fuels compared with the conventional oil-based fuels that tend to be used at sea as well as on land.
To this end, the Port of Barcelona has joined energy suppliers, shipowner, operators, port equipment manufacturers and technological innovators to pilot and measure the efficiency of LNG on land and at sea as an alternative fuel source.
The aim is to reduce NOx, SO2 and particulate matter emissions using alternative fuels throughout the harbour's marine and intermodal cargo chains ships, ferries and cruise ships, said the port authority.
At one time, Barcelona harboured dreams for having ship put in to its port on the southern Spanish coast, instead of circumnavigating the Iberian Peninsula to call at ports from Le Havre to Hamburg. But with road and rail connections being so superior in northern Europe, not to mention a change in the rail gauge from Spain to France, the idea made no sense economically, however much good sense it made visually by simply looking at the map.
Still, LNG is not a sure thing. Driven by a harsh regulatory environment, there are rivals to LNG, namely fuel oil blends and scrubbers.
The Port of Barcelona's energy transition towards a more environment-friendly business model is gaining momentum, as it completes pilot operations using LNG and CNG as alternative fuels throughout its nautical and intermodal supply chains.
The plan was introduced by the port authority as part of the metropolitan region's action plan to improve air quality, Horizon 2020, passed by the Catalan provincial government in 2014, as well as with the Air Quality Improvement Plan of Barcelona 2015-2018, by the city council.
"The Port of Barcelona's Air Quality Improvement Plan focuses mainly on measures to reduce emissions from vessels, wheeled traffic, machinery, bulk cargo operations and infrastructure works.
"The plan also encourages rail and short sea alternatives to road cargo transport while improving sustainable mobility using either gas or electrification in the port", said the port's environmental chief Jordi Vila.
Much depends of the real value of Barcelona's advantage of possessing an ample availability of LNG and CNG and Europe's first ever main regasification plant at the port, owned and run by Enagas.
With the upcoming IMO 2020 sulphur fuel regulation for ships, the Port of Barcelona believes in the importance of establishing LNG and CNG as alternative and more sustainable fuels compared with the conventional oil-based fuels that tend to be used at sea as well as on land.
LNG eliminates emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM10) as well as reducing nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) which are 85 per cent lower than with diesel and fuel oil.
On land, with the REport project involving eleven partners, 26 trucks moving containers between the port and the metropolitan area have been converted to a dual-fuel system. Twenty-five of these can run on CNG with one able to operate on both.
One of the converted trucks now powered by a dual fuel engine A 12-month study has been initiated last summer to monitor the impact this change has on emissions. In the port area it is estimated that around 2,200 trucks transport goods to various destinations.
Said Port of Barelona general manager Jose Alberto Carbonell: “The objective of this initiative is to show the viability, in technical, economic and safety terms, of using natural gas as an alternative fuel for heavy trucks.”
By November, more than 60 trucks operating locally are already being powered by natural gas, either with dedicated or dual fuel engines.
The port is also collaborating closely with Enagas, which is leading a project supported by funding from the European Unions Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme. CORE LNG as hive is a large-scale project with a total of 42 members, including several ports on the Iberian Peninsula. This project has already yielded several initiatives at the port.
For example, with its partners APM Terminals, LNG services provider HAM, technology provider IDIADA and Naturgy Iberia, the Port of Barcelona has taken an existing straddle carrier to completely transform its two 150 kW diesel-based motor engines to natural gas with the aim to keep the same level of performance. The straddle carrier will also be equipped with two 500 litre tanks for LNG supply to the motors. The pilot operation of this straddle carrier is scheduled for October this year.
In addition, and to supply these and other vehicles with alternative fuel, the Port of Barcelona, Spanish LNG services provider HAM and Portuguese energy player Galp opened the first natural gas supply station for vehicles in Spain's port system appear well positioned to supply world with a fuel that appears to be very much in demand.
Taking Barcelona as its word, one can see it not only as it sees itself as the Mediterranean’s major LNG ports, but one with a growing role in what must become a major industry for in the near-term in retrofitting ships with engine adaptations to accommodate low-emissions fuels. |
