Sustainable LNG Operations for Ports and Shipping - Innovative Pilot Actions

The GAINN global project aims at supporting EU Member States policy-makers, ports and shipowners operating in the EU Atlantic and Mediterranean countries to comply with Marpol Annex VI and Directive 2012/33/EU in the most efficient way. In the context of the global project specific actions will be carried out:

• leading to analysing and deciding which would be the best option for a port to provide LNG bunkering services,
• intending to pilot and build LNG bunkering facilities at ports, engineering studies on vessel adaptations to reduce emissions, pilots of retrofitting new types of vessels,
• installing scrubbers, retrofitting vessels or building new ships compliant with the regulatory framework.

The global project will be implemented through a cluster of Actions to be implemented in the period 2014-2020 and beyond as appropriate. GAINN4MOS contributes to the implementation and final completion of the global project by:

1. Providing the core ports of Koper, La Spezia, Venezia, Fos-Marseille and Nantes - Saint Nazaire with initial pilot infrastructures (in the first 3 cases) and fully operational LNG bunkering stations (in the last 2 cases) required to comply with Directive 2014/94/EU on the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure.
2. Providing tested technologies that can be used to retrofit and/or build a large percentage of the short-sea fleet deployed in the EU Atlantic and Mediterranean.
3. Proving that bunkering barges, tugboats, general cargo and pax or ro-pax types of vessels can be successfully retrofitted for them to use LNG as marine fuel and that financial feasibility analyses for their operating companies after the indicators obtained in real life pilots are taken into account confirm the convenience of this choice to external sea carriers.
4. Paving the way for the implementation of LNG as fuel for ship and port machinery.
5. Increasing the competitiveness of port services and shipping by reducing their fuel operational costs.
6. Strengthening new EU niche markets associated to LNG.
7. Providing involved Member States with the practical and operational background, experience and results necessary to deal with the challenges posed by the Sulphur Directive and by the Alternative Fuel Infrastructures Directive.

GAINN4MOS Action aims to improve the Motorways of the Sea network in 6 Member States by carrying out engineering studies of ships retrofitting and/or newbuildings and port LNG infrastructures and bunkering stations and a large set of pilot projects. GAINN4MOS includes 14 detailed engineering studies of LNG infrastructures and bunkering stations and ship retrofitting and / or newbuilding of vessels; 11 prototype and implementation elements in total that are included in two parallel proposals i.e. the current one and the twinned GAINN4MOS Action 2014-EU-TMC-0700-S, which concerns the engineering study of the future LNG pilot bunkering station in Rijeka (Croatia) and is financed by the Cohesion Funds. It is a prerequisite of the MoS grant for both Actions to complete the activities in both projects in order to obtain the EU support. The GAINN4MOS project will be closely linked with the GAINN4CORE Action 2014-IT-TM-0450-S, in which several engineering studies and pilots will be implemented in many of the Italian ports participating in the current Action. The beneficiaries shall ensure that the Action does not overlap or duplicate costs or tasks with Action 2014-IT-TM-0450-M.