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Antwerp Port Authority has received positive news from the European Commission (EC) concerning its application for a subsidy for liquefied natural gas (LNG). The approved subsidy will mainly be used to develop and build an LNG bunkering station for barges in the Port of Antwerp.

The preparatory study work for the LNG bunkering station has already started, and the objective is to have the station in operation by the end of 2015.

Full details regarding the granting of the subsidy and how exactly it will be used are due to be announced in the near future, the port authority said.

"The Port of Antwerp has for some time now been preparing intensively to make LNG available to vessels in the port in a safe, efficient way by 2015, when the stricter IMO regulations for sulphur content of fuels come into force. By approving the subsidy application the Commission has demonstrated its confidence in LNG as the fuel of the future," Antwerp Port Authority said.

Timeline: LNG at the Port of Antwerp

• March 2012: Antwerp Port Authority publishes specifications for the design of an LNG bunkering vessel, due to be operational by 2015 and able to meet the requirements for LNG bunkering of seagoing ships.

• December 2012: the Port of Antwerp scores a Belgian 'first' with truck-to-ship bunkering of the barge Argonon.

• January 2013: the port authority appoints classification company Det Norske Veritas (DNV) to draw up procedures for an operational standard for bunkering vessels in the port in a safe, efficient way.