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The European Union's (EU's) Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) has announced that another inland waterway vessel powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) engines, the Sirocco, has just been commissioned.

In a statement, the INEA said the Sirocco represents "one of the milestones" of the EU-supported LNG Masterplan Rhine-Main-Danube project, which is a series of studies and trials designed to assess the use of LNG as a shipping fuel in the European inland waterway sector.

"It is a great technical accomplishment that paves the way for more clean fuels to be deployed on the entire transport supply chain along the inland waterway networks," the INEA commented.

The commissioning of the Sirocco is described by the INEA as "a key step in the realization of the LNG Masterplan project" - one of the biggest innovation projects financed through the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) programme, which was selected for funding under the 2012 TEN-T Multi-Annual Call.

Benefitting from over 40 million euros of EU support and implemented by a consortium of 33 companies and organizations from the public and private sectors across 12 EU member states, the LNG Masterplan consists of a series of studies and pilot deployments for LNG as fuel for inland vessels, as well as cargo transported on waterways and distributed via inland ports along the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers.

The objective of the project is to provide a platform for key public and private stakeholders to promote LNG uptake in the inland waterway sector and build the necessary regulatory framework for the safe transport and use of LNG as vessel fuel.

Besides commissioning the Sirocco, the project is also supporting the switch from traditional engines to LNG ones capable of substantially decreasing nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate emissions – the main pollutants from inland waterway transport – as well as improving local air quality alongside waterways and ports.

The INEA stated: "This is a win-win situation for business and society and improves the environmental performance of the inland waterway sector as a whole whilst decarbonising the entire transport supply chain."

The INEA added that it expects the results of the LNG Masterplan project - due by December 2015 - to have "a significant impact on LNG's introduction on the European inland waterway networks and to promote this means of transport in general".

The INEA is the successor organisation of the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA), which was created by the European Commission (EC) in 2006 to manage the technical and financial implementation of its TEN-T programme.

Its mission is to support the EC, project promoters and stakeholders by providing expertise and programme management to infrastructure, research and innovation projects in the fields of transport, energy and telecommunications, and to promote synergies between these activities, to benefit economic growth and EU citizens.