Image credit: Nauticor

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Nauticor has extended its LNG bunker supply network in the North Sea region with the start of deliveries in Rotterdam.

Nauticor's maiden delivery at Europe's leading bunker port was to the container vessel Wes Amelie, owned by Wessels Reederei.

In total, the vessel received six truckloads - or 120 tonnes - of LNG during the bunker operation that took place on February 20.

According to Nauticor, it was able to provide an unloading rate of up to 40 tonnes per hour. To achieve this, the Nauticor team used a bunkering technique where two LNG trucks are unloaded simultaneously.

Back in November, Bunker Index reported that another LNG supplier, Titan LNG, also performed its first simultaneous two-truck delivery in Rotterdam to the Wes Amelie.

Nauticor says it is currently in charge of organizing the LNG supply for the vessel, which is chartered by Unifeeder A/S and operates as a feeder vessel between Rotterdam, various ports in the Baltic Sea region, Germany and the Dutch Port of Moerdijk.

Commenting on the landmark supply operation, Sonja Nesshover, director of Nauticor's LNG portfolio, said: "We are happy to have been chosen to continue supporting this pioneering project and are looking forward to enhancing our cooperation in the future. We are continuously working on optimizing the LNG supply for ships and feel well-prepared for more bunker operations at this location."

Lars Hoglund, managing director of LNG-using shipping company Furetank, remarked: "As a front runner in the use of LNG as fuel for ships, we welcome the initiative taken by Nauticor to improve the availability of LNG by ship and truck in the North and Baltic Sea. We encourage all parties, including shipping companies, LNG supplier and the responsible authorities, to work together and ensure comprehensive, efficient, and safe LNG bunker operations."

Earlier this month, LNG bunker supplier Nauticor conducted Germany's largest ever LNG bunkering operation at Elbehafen in Brunsbuttel with the delivery of 85 tonnes to DEME Group's hopper dredger, Scheldt River.

Later this year, Nauticor's new chartered, 7,500-cubic-metre LNG bunker vessel, developed by Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) and Babcock International Group, is due to be put into operation in North Europe - thus increasing Nauticor's supply capacity in the region.