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Fluxys Belgium (Fluxys) says its small-scale LNG business "enjoys continued success" as it saw an increase in the number of loading operations involving small LNG vessels at its Zeebrugge LNG terminal last year.

Although fewer LNG vessels were unloaded than in 2015, more ships were loaded and small-scale LNG activities increased, Fluxys said.

Fluxys LNG - the owner and operator of the Zeebrugge LNG terminal - is now looking to expand the range of small-scale LNG services on offer at the facility. A market test, carried out in 2015, is said to have shown that there was interest in the availability of additional options for loading small LNG ships.

As regards the recently launched second jetty at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal, Fluxys said that some 200 loading slots for small LNG carriers had already been booked under long-term contracts - as previously confirmed on the company's website.

The new jetty was designed to receive LNG carriers ranging from the smallest ships with an LNG capacity of 2,000 cubic metres (cbm) up to larger vessels with a 217,000-cbm capacity.

With the second jetty now in operation, small bunker vessels will be able to berth, load LNG and then resupply to other LNG-powered vessels or small bunker terminals.

"The ability to receive the smallest LNG vessels means that LNG bunker ships can now berth as well: a milestone in the development of small-scale LNG and in particular the development of LNG as a ship fuel," Fluxys explained.

Fluxys also pointed out that being able to use both jetties means the terminal can respond flexibly to demand for simultaneous or consecutive berthings, and that two LNG carriers can be unloaded and/or loaded at the same time.

Financial results

In its results for 2016, Fluxys posted a decline in net profit of EUR 12.612 million, or 20.6 percent, to EUR 48.484 million, down from EUR 61.096 million the previous year. Fluxys explained that net profit had been affected by very low interest rates during the period as the average linear bond (OLO) interest rate for the year was 0.49 percent in 2016, as opposed to 0.86 percent in 2015.

The group achieved a turnover of EUR 509.5 million last year, compared to EUR 538.0 million in 2015, representing a decrease of EUR 28.5 million, or 5.3 percent.

Investments in 2016 amounted to EUR 139.2 million, with most of it relating to the fifth tank and the second jetty at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal, Fluxys said.