Elenger of Estonia has taken their LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) bunkering to the next level using MAKEEN Cryo's revolutionary solution, the Y-piece. The results speak for themselves: a complete bunkering operation with 4 tank trailers done in less than an hour and a half.
In 2018, we released a new type of solution, the Y-piece, with a promise that it would double the capacity of truck-to-ship LNG bunkering, thereby cutting the time spent down to half - or less.
Now, Estonian gas company Elenger has proven that it was not just an empty promise. On Friday 6 September, Elenger performed its first 4-trailer bunkering operation with the MAKEEN Cryo Y-piece at the port of Hanko, Finland.
In just 1 hour 23 minutes, Elenger was able to transfer 172 m3 of LNG to the tank of M/V Auto Energy, a car carrier owned by UECC, from a total of 4 tank trailers (2 at a time) — with optimal safety and no complications. This is a world record bunkering time and an enormous time saver for all parties involved.
Double the trucks, double the capacity
MAKEEN Cryo's Y-piece is an adapter that allows two tank trailers to be connected instead of one, doubling the capacity of the fuelling process. If that is not enough, its design allows the owner to add a second Y-piece and bunker with up to four trailers at once, which puts the bunkering speed at 400% of traditional truck-to-ship bunkering.
It fits any kind of trailer and enables continuous operations as empty trailers can be swapped without the need to halt the process. The pay-off is a dramatic increase in bunkering efficiency and a lot of saved time and money for ship-owners and fuel suppliers.
A responsible solution for shipping
LNG is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to reducing emissions and climate impact in the shipping industry, as it is by far the cleanest burning fossil fuel available. Currently, one of the barriers to widespread LNG usage in shipping is the cost. By cutting down bunkering times dramatically, the Y-piece helps to break down this barrier and make LNG a more economically viable fuel.
