The Gothenburg Port Authority has announced that it will publish general methanol operating regulations for ship-to-ship refueling.

Scandinavia’s largest port is also making arrangements to establish a value chain with the goal of becoming the primary refueling hub for renewable methanol in Northern Europe.

Christoffer Lillhage, Senior Business Development Manager Energy at the Gothenburg Port Authority said: “From the Port of Gothenburg we want to support this by enabling these vessels to take bunker at their convenience. Therefore, we are happy to share that we have received acceptance from the Swedish Transport Agency for the general methanol operating regulations for ship-to-ship bunkering. This work has been finalized after great support from Saeed Mohebbi from the Swedish Transport Agency. His knowledge and support has been very valuable.”

The Port of Gothenburg said it aims to reduce shipping emissions within the port area by 70% until 2030.

“Now we hope to see Maersk, X-press Feeders and many other shipping lines routing their new methanol vessels to the North of Europe and we would be delighted to welcome them with open arms to the largest port in Scandinavia,” said Elvir Dzanic, CEO at the Gothenburg Port Authority.

X-Press Feeders, one of the world’s largest independent feeder carriers, aims to introduce methanol as a transportation fuel on a larger scale by 2023.

“I am happy to see that Port of Gothenburg is working proactively to facilitate the bunkering of Methanol. It is encouraging as we need the ports to be ready when we are to decide where to route our first line of methanol propelled vessels,” added Sven Siemsen Senior Manager Marketing Europe at X-Press Feeders

The Port of Gothenburg is planning also other environmental initiatives. Providing eMethanol fuel, which has less carbon dioxide emissions compared to conventional fuels in the port, is one of them.

“We are pleased to see that ship-to-ship methanol bunkering and infrastructure will come to reality in the Port of Gothenburg. This is a strong benefit for carriers planning to buy our green electrofuel, eMethanol. It enables Liquid Wind and our value chain collaborators to establish multiple production facilities in Sweden and other Nordic countries. A strong and leading eMethanol hub in Gothenburg accelerates our ability to market and distribute our carbon neutral marine fuel to the world. It also puts Sweden on the global fuel export market,” said Claes Fredriksson, CEO and founder of Liquid Wind.