Port of Valencia will pilot LNG-powered tractor featuring Cummins engine

Both tractor units were designed by Terberg in the Netherlands and include a cutting-edge diesel tractor unit equipped with a selective SRC catalytic converter and the Adblue additive (urea) tractor unit powered by LNG and a three-way catalytic converter. To achieve the same towing power as that of a normal tractor running on diesel, a Cummins ISLG 8.9 engine was selected which is specifically designed to operate on natural gas.

The initiative is part of the Greencranes project launched in August 2012 with the support of the European Union through its Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) program, and is headed by the Port of Valencia, where the pilot scheme will take place throughout October and November, with results available by the end of 2013. In the first trials, carried out in the Terberg factory in the Netherlands, the LNG tractor had a towing capacity “equal or superior” to a diesel counterpart also designed to reduce emissions.

“The aim of the pilot project is to convert yard tractors to run on LNG instead of diesel. This cleaner fuel could reduce CO₂ emissions by 16%, NOx emissions by 90% and completely eliminate particulate emissions,” said Terberg in a statement.