(Typo in 1st paragraph, 3rd sentence, corrected: terminal)

WILHELMSHAVEN (dpa-AFX) - For the first time since the opening of the terminal in Wilhelmshaven, a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) arrived there on Tuesday. This was confirmed by the operator Uniper in the morning. The tanker "Maria Energy" was escorted to the terminal by police vessels over the last few meters.

After just under ten months of planning and construction, the first German terminal for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was opened in Wilhelmshaven in mid-December. Test operations began a few days later. The floating terminal off the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony is intended to help close the gap in Germany's gas supply caused by a lack of supplies from Russia.

The centerpiece of the terminal is the almost 300-meter-long special ship "Höegh Esperanza," which is to convert the liquefied natural gas delivered by tankers into the gaseous state and feed it into the German gas network. When it arrived in December, the specialized vessel also already had a cargo of LNG on board and fed into the German grid. The ship, which arrived in Wilhelmshaven on Tuesday, is the first of these tankers, according to Uniper.

Environmentalists planned to protest the arrival of the LNG tanker in the evening. Among other things, they criticized the fact that the gas on board the ship, which comes from the United States, was extracted using the controversial fracking method. "The fact that Germany today for the first time directly receives fracking gas from the U.S. is not a reason for joy, but a historic low blow for climate and nature protection," the German Environmental Aid, for example, announced on Tuesday./xma/DP/jha