Q&A: Gothenburg doubles down on alternative fuels with green shipping corridor and hydrogen facility

Reining in emissions from shipping through shore power and alternative fuels like hydrogen and methanol is key to reaching its ambitious environmental goals, the Gothenburg Port Authority tells Engine in an exclusive interview.

PHOTO: Overhead view the Port of Gothenburg. Gothenburg Port Authority

The Port of Gothenburg aims to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 70% by 2030. International Maritime Organisation (IMO) member states have set a similar target, but have not committed to reach it until two decades later.

Part of Gothenburg’s plan for getting there involves setting up an e-methanol hub together with a group of partners, including Scandinavian shipowners Stena Line and DFDS, and with energy producers Ørsted and Liquid Wind. Gothenburg is also set to become the first port in the world to connect tankers to shore power during operation when this gets rolled out next year.

Engine asked the Gothenburg Port Authority if it is on track to meet its 2030 goal. Christoffer Lillhage, the port's senior business development manager energy, discussed possible collaborations, green shipping corridors, and the possibility of the port becoming a nuclear energy hub.

You have set the ambitious target of achieving 70% carbon emission reduction by 2030. What is the total budget allocated for this, and what are the major transition risks in this ambition?

The total budget allocated for the reduction of 70% in carbon emissions by 2030 is approximately (Eur 60 million) $56 million. Approximately 150,000 tonnes or 80% of our emissions come from the shipping sector at the Port of Gothenburg. Despite reaching our target within the terminals thanks to various green initiatives, we still need to work very hard to reduce emissions from the shipping sector.

We recognize that reducing CO2 emissions by 70% by 2030 is a big undertaking, and there are risks involved, the most prominent of which is the lack of ambition and regulatory framework within the EU and other regulatory bodies to drive the transition. This target cannot be reached alone; we need the industry's collaboration.

What are the logistical arrangements or infrastructure changes you are making to set up a value chain to provide renewable methanol in the port as part of your ambition to become Europe’s green fuel hub?

There are a number of alternatives we are examining with regard to alternative fuels, such as liquid biofuel, liquified biogas (LBG), and methanol. We have handled LNG in the port since 2016 and now we start to work with the transition towards LBG. In 2023 we hope to see a storage capacity in the energy port for LBG volumes, and we have a ship owner (Furetank) that has contracted LBG volumes for their vessels operating in the port.

In regard to methanol, our logistics infrastructure is already in place to handle methanol, so we will not need to re-design it significantly. Basically, we will have to make only minor modifications to the pipelines and the storage capacity within the port so that our solutions can be implemented with a minimum investment.

What is the initial volume of e-Methanol you are targeting at the port by 2025?

It is our current goal to have 50,000 tonnes of e-Methanol by 2025 available in the Port delivered from our partner Liquid Wind and their Flagship one facility.  

Through your partnership with Liquid Wind and Ørsted, green e-methanol will be produced with biogenic CO2 and green hydrogen. How will the biogenic CO2 be sourced, and what source of renewable energy will power the electrolyser(s) needed to produce the green hydrogen? Where will the production facilities be located?

FlagshipONE's methanol production facility will be near a heating plant in Örnsköldsvik in northern Sweden, which produces biogenic carbon dioxide from waste and heating production. The Örnsköldsvik municipality plans to develop wind energy on a large scale, so 100% of its renewable energy will come from wind.

Back in April, you expressed interest in welcoming shipping lines like Maersk, X-press Feeders and many others routing their new methanol vessels to the North of Europe to Port of Gothenburg. Has your project attracted interest from these shipowners looking to invest in methanol-fuelled vessels?

There is certainly interest from top-tier shipowners to invest in methanol-fuelled vessels. When these vessels come in to service the port of Gothenburg is keen to see them routed to Gothenburg, however, nothing has been finalised yet and discussions are still undergoing.

The stigma around nuclear energy as a marine fuel is decreasing and it is slowly emerging as a mainstream alternative fuel. Will you be open to a nuclear transition in the future to reduce your carbon footprint?

In order to make the green transition successful, we have to adapt and work with alternatives that we think have the potential to make a significant impact. In the future, if nuclear energy is a viable option for the shipping industry to go green with the necessary regulatory framework in place, we will definitely consider that if necessary. We are not closing any doors on any future alternative that would enable a green transition.

Apart from e-Methanol and Green Cable projects, do you have any other green initiatives planned till 2030?

We believe hydrogen will play an important role in the green transition. As part of our commitment to the green transformation, we plan to launch a small-scale hydrogen production facility by 2023 with a capacity of 4 MW. Initially, hydrogen will be used to supply land-side infrastructure, but future expansion is not ruled out. We are also starting to investigate the use of ammonia as future bunker fuel.

Port of Gothenburg is one of the coalition members of the “Getting to Zero Coalition”. Is there any green corridor partnership on the horizon for you?

We are very open to developing new and alternate fuels with other ports, in fact, Port of Gothenburg is currently working on green corridor concepts – the details of which will be released soon.

“Green corridors will likely play a very vital role for the implementation and use of new alternative fuels. Due to the price gap, some sort of support stated from undersigned parties in the Clydebank declaration would speed up the process”  

By Konica Bhatt

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