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The Port of Rotterdam Authority announced on 5 October 2026 that Gate Terminal's fourth LNG storage tank had been completed and commissioned. The tank holds 180,000 cubic metres of liquid LNG. Gate is a joint venture between Gasunie and Vopak. The authority says the expansion brings the terminal's total capacity to 20 billion cubic metres per year. These quantities describe different things: a liquid storage volume and an annual terminal capacity, not interchangeable measures of gas delivered.
The announcement also identifies a fourth jetty under construction, with small-scale ship loading and bunkering expected by the end of 2028. That date is a project expectation, not a service available on 9 October 2026. A fifth jetty is being assessed for market interest. Commissioning the tank therefore should not be counted as commissioning either jetty, nor as proof that ships can already purchase fuel using the planned new infrastructure.
Storage can help separate the arrival of a large cargo from the timing of gas sent into a transmission network. This improves scheduling options, but the amount actually delivered also depends on unloading slots, usable inventory, regasification equipment, pipeline access and demand. A cubic metre of liquid LNG cannot be compared directly with a cubic metre of pipeline gas without an explicitly stated conversion and gas conditions. The release does not provide the assumptions for that conversion or a measured reduction in customer tariffs.
For an industrial buyer, the relevant cost questions are whether the additional storage reduces waiting, enables more flexible cargo scheduling or changes access to terminal services. For a bunker buyer, the separate loading project matters. Capacity alone gives no answer about reservation fees, utilization or who captures any operational saving. The practical conclusion is a completed storage milestone with a distinct future marine-service stage. Procurement reviews should retain the physical unit, operating status and delivery point before treating the expansion as cheaper energy or faster bunkering.