Today only three ports in Italy have an ordinance to supply ships with gas
Article by Raoul De Forcade
LNG (liquefied natural gas) is the ideal fuel for the environmental transition of the maritime sector. But a clear regulatory framework needs to be created as soon as possible to enable bunkering (i.e., refueling of ships). Industry entrepreneurs are ready on this but still lack regulatory support and possible facilitation. This is what emerged yesterday from a conference on the subject, organized by Assocostieri, the association of companies operating in the energy logistics sector.
“LNG,” stresses Elio Ruggeri, president of Assocostieri, “is clearly the fuel of choice for shipowners to manage the energy transition; this is now evident: of new ship orders, about half involve alternative fuels and, 90 percent of these, LNG. In addition, liquefied natural gas can be used in bio-GNL and synthetic LNG versions and thus become a zero-emission fuel for ships.” Today in the world, Ruggeri continues, “there are about 600 LNG ships already sailing and 600 about to be launched. These units are mainly cruise ships but also container ships, bulk carriers, ferries and ro-ro (for transporting rolling stock). A large fleet, therefore, and we need to be able to offer this traffic a solution an LNG bunkering service.”
Currently, the Assocostieri president recalls, Italy’s LNG consumption for heavy transport is 150 thousand tons per year for about 5 thousand gas-fueled trucks.
“The bunkering market, on the other hand, is at zero, apart from supplies to ships made by Edison in Trieste, a few experiments made in La Spezia and a trial in Civitavecchia. Yet the bunkering potential in Italy, according to our members’ estimates, varies between 1.5 and 2 million tons-a very important potential.” In addition, says Ruggeri, now many entrepreneurs in the sector have available bunkers (the ships used to refuel other ships) for LNG, and the situation is being overcome whereby, those who needed to refuel, had to get ad hoc units from bunkering terminals in France and Spain.”
Italy now has five regasification terminals (Panigaglia, Livorno, Piombino, Ravenna and Rovigo), five licensed LNG depots (two of which are operational, in Oristano and Ravenna) and 12 units to provide bunkers. Of all these facilities, Livorno is already capable of transferring LNG on bunkers, Panigaglia is gearing up to do so, Oristano is ready, and, on the Adriatic, there is the terminal at the coastal depot in Ravenna.” To date, Ruggeri concludes, only three ports-La Spezia, Trieste, and Civitavecchia-“have made ordinances for LNG bunkering; we need a national regulation for bunkering operations that gives certainty to operators on the time and manner of operations, a single track that all Italian ports of call can apply.”
Read the full interview in the Jan. 30, 2025 edition of Il Sole 24 Ore.
