Interview: Gate third LNG jetty project moving forward

Dutch Gate terminal, with main shareholders Gasunie and Vopak, is moving ahead with its break bulk facility project that will enable LNG distribution for small scale use with a maximum capacity of 280 berthing slots per year.

The investment decision for the construction of this facility was taken in July 2014. The construction of the new break bulk infrastructure started in December last year.

In an interview with LNG World News, Stefaan Adriaens, Commercial Manager of the Gate terminal in the Port of Rotterdam, discusses the break bulk facility construction progress, Gate LNG terminal’s operations, as well as the effect of the global oil price slump on LNG developments.

Commissioning of this facility and commencement of the first services is scheduled for the first half of 2016.

Is the construction of the facility going according to schedule?

“It is still early days of course but so far so good. We remain on schedule for first half of 2016, but just to manage expectations it will be at the end of that period as any LNG construction activity typically takes around 2 years, so do not expect 1 January 2016.”

What are the current activities at the project’s site?

“On site the Port of Rotterdam is currently excavating the dedicated small scale basin. Gate is doing already some small preparatory works, but we are mainly involved in engineering and procurement right now.

Halfway this year we will get access to the quay built by the Port of Rotterdam at which point Gate will start building the topsides.”

Loading and reloading operations at the Gate terminal have been growing steadily for three years now.

What are the expectations for 2015, including truck loading operations?

“That is extremely difficult to forecast, especially for large vessels, given the constantly changing LNG markets. So far, we have seen more ship movements than last year.

We think the number of small-scale reload might increase slightly while for trucks that is almost a given as e.g. in the month of February alone we already did 54 truck loadings.”

The burning topic with oil prices dramatically falling all over the globe has changed a lot in the LNG perspective, with companies delaying, or even cancelling some developments.

How will this affect the Gate terminal and the break bulk project?

“We should not forget that also LNG prices have come down for the end consumer which is good news. The result is that one would expect more import and probably less large re-export on a European scale.

In the small-scale markets, I think we still see a very nice development in off-grid applications (e.g. 2 new Finnish terminals have taken FID) and LNG for trucks evolves nicely in countries as the UK and the Netherlands.

And with around 140 seagoing vessels opting for LNG and at least 3 LNG bunkering vessels decided on, that is good basis to work on. So we are happy with the dynamics and our FID on the breakbulk.”

Any new projects, developments at Gate terminal?

“We announced recently that we will offer transshipment service in 2H 2015 whereby LNG will flow from one ship at a jetty to a ship at the other jetty without the LNG passing by the tanks. 

The flow rates could be up to 12500 m3/h. I think that is a nice add-on service for this year.”