The station is located near to a busy truck route, which runs through the Netherlands to Belgium, France, and the Ruhr Area of Germany, and the opening comes as Shell says heavy-duty truck fleet owners increasingly turn to LNG fuel over traditional diesel due to its cost effectiveness for trucks that cover long distances. It is also cleaner than diesel in terms of sulphur, particulates and nitrogen oxides, and can help reduce well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emissions.

The new station has a capacity of 70,000 litres of LNG, which is enough to fuel around 170 trucks per day. Customers at this first site will include waste-specialist SUEZ Environnement NL, Vos Logistics and ABS Trucking.

“I am delighted to see customers fuelling their trucks with LNG at this Shell filling station, in addition to FuelSave Diesel and GTL Fuel,” said Giorgio Delpiano, general-manager commercial fleet. “We are pleased to be driving the development of safe and cost-efficient LNG fuelling technology.”

As customer demand grows, Shell said it plans to open additional LNG sites in the Netherlands. It also said that “in due course”, it plans to supply the LNG fuel via the new, ‘break bulk’ LNG terminal being built at the port of Rotterdam by a joint venture of Gasunie, Vopak and OMV.

Lauran Wetemans, general manager downstream LNG, added: “LNG can be a strong option for fleet owners. We expect LNG will form a bigger part of the sustainable transport fuel mix in the future and we continue to collaborate with engine manufacturers, customers and policy makers to encourage the use of LNG as a transport fuel.”