Demand for LNG as a road fuel at the Netherlands' Gate and France operator Elengy's Montoir and Fos terminals decreased in 2024 compared with earlier years, at least in part because trucks operating in Germany are increasingly choosing to run on bio-LNG which is available in only limited quantities at these terminals.
The number of truck loadings at the Netherlands' Gate terminal decreased by about 30pc in 2024 compared with 2023, commercial manager Stefaan Adriaens said at last month's small-scale LNG summit in Milan. That is despite the terminal having launched two new truck loading bays in September.
Truck loadings have similarly decreased at French LNG operator Elengy's Montoir and Fos-sur-Mer terminals. The number of used slots at Montoir totalled 2,676 in 2024, down from 2,968 in 2022, according to Elengy data, although the terminal underwent a lengthy maintenance period in 2024. Aggregate loadings at Fos Cavaou and Tonkin decreased to 7,812 in 2024 from 8,822 in 2022. The number of available truck loading slots at all three terminals increased to 19,400 from 18,800 over the same period.
The fall in truck loadings at Gate and the Elengy terminals is likely to reflect vehicles choosing to load at other terminals in northwest Europe.
About 85pc of the 9,000 LNG truck loading slots sold at Belgium's Zeebrugge terminal for 2024 were used, terminal operator Fluxys told Argus. The 7,650 trucks loaded in 2024 marks a step up from 6,530 in 2022, according to the latest available data published by Gas LNG Europe. Fluxys refused to say how many of the 8,000 slots sold for 2023 were used.
Shell also started operations at a 100,000 t/yr bio-LNG liquefaction plant in Cologne in April, which is capable of loading 4,000-5,000 trucks a year. This plant is closer to more LNG refuelling stations than Gate and Zeebrugge, which cuts down on inland freight costs.
Many of the LNG-powered trucks operating in Germany are choosing to operate on bio-LNG, market participants said, which is likely to have weighed on the demand for loadings of conventional LNG from the Gate and Elengy terminals. Gate's bio-LNG capacity is limited to 100,000 t/yr at present, all of which was sold out in 2024, while Elengy does not yet provide bio-LNG services at its terminals. Adriaens said in December that 72pc of trucked LNG in Germany is bio-LNG.
The Gate and Elengy terminals have experienced waning demand for LNG as a road fuel even though the number of LNG-fuelled trucks has increased each successive year since 2020, according to data from the European Commission's alternative fuels observatory (see truck graph). About 10,700 LNG-fuelled trucks were in operation across the EU in 2024, up from just 6,000 in 2020.
Although the number of LNG-powered trucks on the roads has increased in recent years, the registration of new vehicles has slowed. About 1,580 new LNG-powered trucks were registered in 2024, down from a high of 2,022 in 2021. Registrations of LNG-fuelled vehicles are still recovering from a sharp drop in 2022, when hub prices across Europe spiked (see price graph). Adriaens said that the extreme prices of this period have discouraged the use of LNG as a road fuel and weighed on the number of orders being made for LNG-powered vehicles.
