For CNG, Europe needs a network to link existing stations, which should have common standards, and those planned along the main road corridors so NGVs can move around the EU, according to Kallas. The overall aim is to have enough fueling sites so that investors and companies find it worthwhile to mass-produce vehicles at a reasonable price for a growing market where consumers have confidence to buy them. For a long-term strategy, it is vital to give clear signals to all by creating the conditions that will end the vicious circle.
Regarding LNG, this is no longer confined to pipelines as the industry can now be supplied by tankers from global markets. “We can also make more use of locally produced biomethane. Natural gas is probably the only globally available fuel that reasonably allows ships and waterborne transport to meet their emissions targets – and the EU’s new requirements for maximum sulphur content in marine fuels. These are 0.1% in Sulphur Emission Control Areas by 2015 and 0.5% in all EU waters by 2020,” he explained.
Moreover, Kallas commented: “Europe needs urgently more LNG stations. This is why the Commission has proposed making them available for waterborne vessels in the EU’s major sea, river and canal ports, and for trucks along the main motorways. Our proposed review of EU ports policy recognizes the shift in shipping from oil products towards gas as a fuel, and the subsequent need for ports to offer significant facilities to access, store and provide gas to transport users. I am confident that it will take less than 20 years before most ships will be able to use LNG, and also on intercontinental journeys.”
Source: European Commission.
