Snam, Italy’s leading gas utility company and manager of the regasification plant of Panigaglia, is thinking of creating a maritime bridge between the two sides of the Gulf of La Spezia. Roro barges or small ferries would be used to transport LNG tank trucks, in order to be directly connected to the national road network instead of using the local urban roads.
Snam’s 2019-2023 strategic plan mentions that a €50 million investment is planned “for the construction of two small liquefaction plants (Small Scale LNG), one in the North and one in Southern Italy, and for the upgrading of the Panigaglia terminal in order to allow the loading of tankers and foster the use of LNG for heavy transport, industry and residential buildings for a total capacity of 250 thousand tons per year”.
The plan further specifies that “there is also the possibility of adapting the Panigaglia plant to allow the loading of naval units to develop the use of LNG in maritime transport. A similar activity is being developed by OLT, the regasification terminal off the Tuscan coast between Livorno and Pisa, of which Snam will acquire a 49.07% stake.”
