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Arrival in Wilhelmshafen: The Höegh Esperanza has reached its berth
Photo: Fabian Bimmer / REUTERS
The special ship Höegh Esperanza has arrived in the Jade off Wilhelmshaven.
The ship, which is around 300 meters long and is required to convert liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the gaseous state, headed for its future berth at a newly built jetty north of the deep-water port of Jade-Weser-Port on Thursday afternoon.
As the technical heart of the LNG import terminal, the ship is to land the LNG delivered by tankers and convert it back into a gaseous state over the next few years.
The first freighter, which only transports LNG, is expected in mid-January.
Numerous police forces secured the ship and the pier.
With the arrival of the ship, the Wilhelmshaven LNG terminal is on the home straight.
According to plans by the operator, the gas importer Uniper, natural gas is to be fed into the German gas grid on December 22nd when the terminal is put into operation.
Because the ship was previously loaded with around 165,000 cubic meters of LNG in Spain.
According to Uniper, this amount is enough to supply 50,000 to 80,000 households in Germany for one year.
In total, the terminal should make five billion cubic meters of LNG technically usable per year and feed it into the German gas network.
This corresponds to around six percent of Germany's gas requirements.
The construction of the LNG terminal, which was completed in just a few months, is part of Germany's efforts to become independent of gas supplies from Russia.
The authorities are expected to hand over the pending water and emissions permits to Uniper on Friday.
Environmental groups criticize the operation of the terminal near the Unesco World Heritage Wadden Sea and fear damage to the ecosystem.
The terminal is to be officially opened on Saturday.
The Höegh Esperanza with homeport Oslo was built in South Korea in 2018 and currently sails under the flag of Norway.
A crew of around 30 people works permanently on the ship for operation, as can be seen from Uniper's application documents.
ani/dpa