Düsseldorf,
13
September
2021
|
14:00
Europe/Berlin

Pipeline to go: LIQVIS and VTG test rail-based LNG transport in cooperation with Brunsbüttel Ports

Summary
  • Successful trials carry LNG from Brunsbüttel Ports to Uniper power plant in Ingolstadt in special tank wagon
  • Sustainable transportation of this alternative fuel will boost the energy transition

On behalf of LIQVIS GmbH, a subsidiary of Uniper SE, VTG AG has successfully completed initial tests involving the transportation by rail of cryogenically liquefied natural gas (LNG) in specially developed tank wagons. Chart Ferox a.s. provided technical support for filling on the premises of Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH before the gas was carried by rail to a Uniper power plant roughly 800 kilometers away in Ingolstadt. LIQVIS is using the project to investigate the option of using rail as a safe, cost-effective and ecologically sound way to transport LNG – a valuable alternative fuel – to putative distribution centers. The ability to move larger volumes in a single batch by rail reduces transport emissions while taking heavy traffic off the roads. Carrying hazardous substances by rail is also generally regarded as very safe.

Innovation – The road to sustainable logistics
VTG has been carrying liquefied natural gas for many years. Now, as the first and – to date – only company in the rail freight sector, it has collaborated with Chart Ferox a.s. to develop an innovative tank wagon that can bypass shipping routes, road haulage and the pipeline network to transport LNG across Europe. The brand-new wagons boast a thermally insulated tank to keep the gas at a constant temperature during filling and transportation. “VTG already has the expertise and the logistical concepts that are needed to move LNG around Europe’s rail networks quickly, reliably and in a way that is kind to the environment,” says Heinz Jürgen Hiller, Business Development LNG Europe. “As a kind of ‘pipeline to go’, our LNG tank wagons can permanently supply liquefied natural gas to whole industries with a voracious appetite for energy. We are really pleased about this partnership, which plugs a gap in rail freight.”

“For both our customers and ourselves, the safe and seamless supply of LNG to our existing and planned filling stations is of crucial importance,” adds Sebastian Gröblinghoff, Managing Director of LIQVIS GmbH. “But besides wanting to deliver a product with a very low carbon content at our filling stations, we are also striving to actively reduce CO2 emissions throughout the upstream value chain. Having VTG by our side gives us a potent partner that shares our vision of a sustainable future. Within the framework of this test project, VTG is joining us in exploring potential to optimize the delivery of LNG to our network of filling stations.”

Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, whose port facility stands at the mouth of the Elbe River, was chosen as the venue for loading: The same site had already handled the first-time filling of VTG’s specially developed tank wagon with LNG back in April 2016. “In recent years, a strategically favorable location at the point where the Elbe flows into the Kiel Canal has combined with close proximity to the port of Hamburg and direct access to the Baltic and Scandinavian markets to establish the Elbe port in Brunsbüttel as one of the leading LNG terminals on Germany’s North Sea coast,” says Frank Schnabel, Managing Director of Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH/the SCHRAMM Group. Both truck-to-ship and ship-to-ship LNG bunkering are business as usual in Brunsbüttel, and plans for an LNG import and distribution terminal are proceeding apace. LNG could then be redistributed from Brunsbüttel by rail (in cooperation with VTG), by LNG bunker vessel or via the pipeline network.

For more information, please contact:

VTG Aktiengesellschaft
Dr. René Abel
Head of Corporate Communications
T +49 (0) 40 23 54-1341
[email protected]

Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH
Frank Schnabel
Geschäftsführer
T +49 (0) 4852 884 35
[email protected]

Uniper SE
Georg Oppermann
SVP External Communication & Sustainability
T +49 (0) 178 4394847
[email protected]

 

About VTG
Headquartered in Hamburg, VTG Aktiengesellschaft is a global asset owner and logistics company with a strong focus on rail. Besides hiring out rail freight wagons and tank containers, it also provides multimodal logistical services and integrated digital solutions. The company’s fleet includes around 94,000 rail freight wagons – mostly tank wagons, intermodal wagons, standard freight wagons and sliding-wall wagons – as well as about 9,000 tank containers.

This diversified service portfolio gives VTG’s customers a robust platform for international freight transportation, based on which the company develops made-to-measure logistical solutions for any and every industry. Over many years, VTG has accumulated granular expertise across the entire transport chain – expertise that is now flanked by smart technology. The Group likewise combines a wealth of experience with a specialized knowledge of the transportation of liquid and sensitive goods in particular. Its customers include a plethora of leading companies representing the chemicals, petroleum, automotive and paper industries, agriculture and virtually every other sector besides.

VTG posted revenue of EUR 1,218 million and an operating profit (EBITDA) of EUR 492 million in the 2020 financial year. The Hamburg-based company’s subsidiaries and affiliates give it a sizable footprint in Europe, North America, Russia and Asia. Effective December 31, 2020, VTG employed around 2,100 people worldwide. More information at www.vtg.com.  

About Brunsbüttel Port GmbH
Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH, part of the owner-led SCHRAMM group, is owner and operator of infrastructure and superstructure of the ports of Brunsbüttel (Elbehafen, Hafen Ostermoor and Ölhafen), operator of Rendsburg Port and Glückstadt Port as well as logistics services provider at five maritime logistics terminals in Hamburg and Brunsbüttel. Furthermore, Brunsbüttel Ports operates three ports in Söderhamn in Sweden since March 2017. In addition, logistics services are provided at three maritime logistics terminals for industrial customers in Sweden. With its strategic location at the lower river Elbe and the Kiel-Canal, the port group of Brunsbüttel offers direct access to the North Sea and Baltic Sea, close distance to Hamburg, access to the European inland waterways and available industrial areas near the port.

Due to these advantages, as well as to the comprehensive range of maritime services, the ports at Brunsbüttel are an attractive transshipment center for the largest contiguous industrial area in Northern Germany and the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The core competencies regarding industrial services for regional, national and international customers include handling, warehousing, transit loading and project logistics. Further information may also be found at www.brunsbuettel-ports.com.

About Liqvis
As a wholly owned subsidiary of Uniper SE, LIQVIS builds and operates a demand-driven infrastructure for LNG in heavy-duty transport. Founded in 2015, Liqvis has been operating LNG refueling stations at strategic transport hubs with particularly high truck volumes (e.g., in Berlin-Grünheide, Bönen, Hannover-Langenhagen, and Kassel-Lohfelden) since 2017. A steady expansion of this refueling station infrastructure is planned for the coming years.

About Uniper
Uniper is an international energy company with around 12,000 employees in more than 40 countries. The company plans to make its power generation CO2-neutral in Europe by 2035. With about 35 GW of installed generation capacity, Uniper is among the largest global power generators. Its main activities include power generation in Europe and Russia as well as global energy trading, including a diversified gas portfolio that makes Uniper one of Europe’s leading gas companies. In 2020, Uniper had a gas turnover of more than 220 bcm. Uniper is also a reliable partner for municipalities, public utilities, and industrial companies for developing and implementing innovative, CO2-reducing solutions on their way to decarbonizing their activities. As a pioneer in the field of hydrogen, Uniper has set itself the target of operating worldwide along the entire value chain in the future and implementing projects that will make hydrogen the mainstay of the future energy supply. The company is headquartered in Düsseldorf and currently the third-largest listed German utility. Together with its main shareholder Fortum, Uniper is also the third-largest producer of CO2-free energy in Europe.

 

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This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Uniper SE Management and other information currently available to Uniper. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. Uniper SE does not intend, and does not assume any liability whatsoever, to update these forward-looking statements or to modify them to conform with future events or developments.