Gate (shareholders Gasunie and Koninklijke Vopak) and the Port of Rotterdam Authority are building a new port basin together that will be suitable for LNG breakbulk services. The new breakbulk infrastructure will be constructed next to Gate terminal. Thanks to a new handling installation, bunker vessels and smaller tankers for inland shipping will shortly be able to bunker LNG just like cars at a petrol pump. The vessels will then be able to supply LNG-powered ships or carry LNG to other parts of Europe. The new facility is expected to give the use of LNG a boost as a clean and affordable fuel for the transport sector in the Netherlands and Northwest Europe.

Since 2011 Gate terminal had made it possible to import LNG into Europe from overseas. Gate terminal contributes towards the diversification of European gas supply by providing access to LNG from all over the world. Gate terminal receives the LNG, stores it, transfers it to other tankers and turns it into gas so that it can enter the gas transport network of Northwest Europe.

In the coming period, the Port of Rotterdam Authority will be dredging around 500,000 m3 of sand. The sand will be put to a new use on Maasvlakte 2. The dredging operations are the ‘closing piece’ for the Port Authority, which is responsible for the construction of a basin and quay infrastructure. The Port Authority expects to complete the work at the end of this year, after which Gate will start on the construction of the installations. The first LNG ship is expected in the summer of 2016.