Cement carrier Ireland has become the first ship to be bunkered with liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Elbe port of Brunsbüttel, Germany.

The 7,300 dwt Ireland, owned by Norway’s KGJ Cement, was bunkered with LNG on January 28, 2017, according to Brunsbüttel Ports.

The bunkering took place as a so-called truck-to-ship procedure, in which around 19 tons of LNG was supplied by means of the tank truck and pumped directly from the truck to the ship’s LNG tank.

“The preparation and the execution of the LNG bunkering process ran seamlessly and shows that LNG bunkering can be integrated into regular port operations without any major concerns,” Frank Schnabel, Managing Director of Brunsbüttel Ports GmbH / SCHRAMM Group, said.

Built by Dutch shipbuilder Ferus Smit in 2016, the cement carrier has a dual fuel motor and is able to run on both LNG and marine diesel.