Shell officially opened its first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) lanes in Europe, at a truck refuelling station in Rotterdam Waalhaven, the Netherlands. The station is located near to a busy truck route, which runs through the Netherlands to Belgium, France, and the Ruhr Area of Germany.

Heavy-duty truck fleet owners are beginning to choose LNG fuel over traditional diesel because it can be cost competitive for trucks that cover long distances. It is cleaner than diesel in terms of sulphur, particulates and nitrogen oxides, and can help reduce well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions.

The new station has a capacity of 70,000 litres of LNG, which is enough to fuel around 170 trucks per day. Customers at this first site will include waste-specialist SUEZ Environnement NL, Vos Logistics and ABS Trucking.



“I am delighted to see customers fuelling their trucks with LNG at this Shell filling station, in addition to FuelSave Diesel and GTL Fuel,” said Giorgio Delpiano, General-Manager Commercial Fleet. “We are pleased to be driving the development of safe and cost-efficient LNG fuelling technology.”

As customer demand grows, Shell plans to open additional LNG sites in the Netherlands. In due course, it plans to supply the LNG fuel via the new, ‘break bulk’ LNG terminal being built at the port of Rotterdam by a joint venture of Gasunie, Vopak and OMV.

Lauran Wetemans, General Manager Downstream LNG, added, “LNG can be a strong option for fleet owners. We expect LNG will form a bigger part of the sustainable transport fuel mix in the future and we continue to collaborate with engine manufacturers, customers and policy makers to encourage the use of LNG as a transport fuel.”

Shell is the first customer of a new, dedicated LNG for transport infrastructure announced in July 2014 by the Gas Access to Europe (Gate) terminal, a joint venture of Gasunie, Vopak and OMV. The terminal is expected to become operational in 2016.

Shell opened its first LNG refueling station in Calgary in 2013, with a second operational in Edmonton.
Shell has an agreement with TravelCentres of America LLC to develop a network of LNG refuelling lanes for heavy-duty road transport customers along the interstate highway system in the United States. The first of these LNG refuelling stations was opened in May 2014 in Ontario, California.
LNG forming a bigger part of the sustainable transport fuel mix consistent with the EU Clean Power for Transport directive, recent Dutch government fuel vision report and the Social-Economic Council vision pathway report to a sustainable fuel mix in the Netherlands.

Source: www.shell.com/