Industrial action will stop most operations at France's 12.4mn t/yr Dunkirk import terminal until 9 March, operator Fluxys told Argus.
The terminal operator declared a force majeure today, with operations to be reduced to the technical minimum from 06:00 CET today for at least 48 hours. During the period, the berthing jetty for LNG carriers will be unavailable, operations will be reduced to the "technical minimum" and the LNG small-scale truck-loading bay will be unavailable, Fluxys said.
This follows the shutdown of France's three other import terminals — the 8mn t/yr Montoir, 6.6mn t/yr Fos Cavaou and 2.2mn t/yr Fos Tonkin — that started yesterday at 13:00 CET and will last until 14 March, operator Elengy said on Monday.
Although the industrial action at Dunkirk could last for a shorter period, there was at least one vessel that was scheduled to arrive at the facility today that could be delayed. The 161,900m³ Maran Gas Alexandria was declaring arrival for Dunkirk on 7 March, having loaded on 22 February at the US' Corpus Christi facility.
There have been several diversions of vessels away from Elengy-operated facilities in recent days. The 135,000m³ LNG Sokoto was set to arrive at Fos Cavaou on 11 March, but was diverted on 4 March for the UK's 14.8mn t/yr Isle of Grain, which it is scheduled to reach on 12 March. The 174,000m³ Minerva Amorgos was declaring to reach Fos Cavaou on 9 March, but has changed course and is heading back into the Atlantic. The 74,100m³ Global Energy, previously scheduled to arrive at Fos Tonkin today, is now declaring for arrival at the 12.6mn t/yr Barcelona facility tomorrow. And the 173,400m³ Maran Gas Olympias — which had been holding offshore Montoir — has begun sailing in a northwesterly direction away from the terminal.
