PitPoint.LNG, a joint venture between PitPoint Clean Fuels and Primagaz Nederland BV, said the LNG bunkering station is scheduled to be operational by the second quarter of 2019.
PitPoint.LNG said that since the plan for the LNG bunkering station was announced in June last year, it had been working hard to get the permit.
The permit, required under the Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz (German Emission Control Act) to guarantee the safety of LNG as a fuel for shipping, was granted by the district government of Cologne last week.
“The permit means that construction can now definitively go ahead. The new LNG bunkering station will be built in the port of Cologne, located at Am Molenkopf 1, and will facilitate the bunkering of inland waterways vessels that sail on the Rhine, Europe’s busiest waterway,” PitPoint.LNG stated.
“Construction of the LNG bunkering station in Cologne is part of PitPoint.LNG’s strategic aim to develop a European LNG infrastructure for transport by road and water. It will be the first shore-to-ship LNG refuelling location in Europe,” it added.
Read more: Global bunkering infrastructure still needed to make LNG viable as a marine fuel
Read more: LNG only 'viable option' today to tackle shipping's air quality issues
PitPoint.LNG believes that a transition to LNG as fuel for ships will have a direct positive impact on the health of the people living in the vicinity of waterways used for shipping.
“LNG is considered to be one of the most promising alternative fuels in the transition to clean transport in shipping. The biggest benefit of using LNG lies in the reduced emission of fine particulates and NOx, which have a negative impact on the local air quality,” PitPoint.LNG said.
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