Motus Foundation was present at the kick-off seminar of the CEF, MoS project “Cargo capacity upgrade and LNG bunkering Świnoujście – Ystad maritime link”. The seminar was held on 25th January in Ystad, Sweden and was moderated by Mr. Emil Arolski, Chairman of the Polish LNG Platform. Over 60 participants attended the event along with the project consortium, including the Port of Ystad, Gaz-System S.A. and Polferries S.A. Key note speech by Swedish regional and governmental representatives as well as European officials underlined the critical importance of the maritime link project.
The seminar marks the start of the project aimed at upgrading of the maritime link capacity, improvement of the environmental performance and enabling LNG bunkering on the maritime route connecting the core and comprehensive ports of Świnoujście and Ystad. The initiative features major infrastructure investments at the Port of Ystad.
A number of issues key to the smooth implementation of the project were raised during the meeting. The project enjoys EU funding through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) fund, covering EUR 34 million (equaling average EU support at 26%) out of the project’s estimated eligible cost of EUR 132 million. Questions related to funding where tackled by Jerome Glantenay (INEA) and representatives of the Swedish CEF Transport Secretariat.
Björn Boström, Managing Director at the Port of Ystad, talked about the company’s investments in the area of infrastructure and terminal facilities. He offered the following comment after the meeting:
“The agreement is now in place, I believe it won’t surprise anyone if I say that we’re all pleased. The other partners are also eager to start. The meeting was a success, it was good to have all the partners present to exchange information”.
The partners definitely have their work cut out for them. In the Port of Ystad, the action foresees a number of investments, including two berths for serving ferries with associated facilities (ro-ro ramps, onshore power connections, reception stations for black and grey water, marshaling areas, terminal road infrastructure, check-in counters delimiting the ISPS area), dredging of the port’s basin and approach route to the Port. Furthermore, the plans cover a new breakwater in the South and an expansion of the existing one in the Western part of the port area, as well as a dedicated area for LNG bunkering.
The LNG propulsion system on Polferries’ new ro-pax vessel, set to operate on the route in the near future, which is also a part of the project, has been covered by the company’s President, Piotr Redmerski. He offered the following comment after the meeting:
“The Management Board of Polferries from the beginning of cooperation with the Port of Ystad, is looking for friendly and ecological solutions in the field of ferry transport promotion. The jointly implemented international CEF project is a perfect example of the work of partners, combining commercial and pro-ecological tasks. Today’s meeting also points to the positive attitude of the EU authorities and the INEA agency to this type of cooperation (…)”.
Gaz System and its affiliated company, Polskie LNG, who are also a part of the project consortium, will aim to jointly deploy a LNG bunkering vessel in the Port of Świnoujście by 2022. The LNG bunkering vessel will be dedicated to store and transfer LNG to vessels driven by LNG, so as to reduce the impact of shipping on the environment by decreasing the emissions of SOx, NOx, CO2.