• 05 Apr 2017

Shell’s first liquefied natural gas bunkering vessel is expected to soon start delivering the chilled fuel to LNG-powered ships in northwest Europe.

The Hague-based LNG giant had ordered the bunkering vessel back in december 2014 at the South Korean shipbuilding company STX Offshore & Shipbuilding.

The specialized ship will have a capacity of 6,500 cubic meters and will be capable of fuelling 1,000 cubes of LNG per hour. Shell claims it would be the biggest seagoing LNG bunker vessel with high maneuverability.

The facility’s first customers will include six 1,400-TEU dual-fuel engine technology container ships operated by finnish Containerships Ltd Oy, that are being constructed in China.

Fuurthermore, in March, Shell has also signed an agrement arch to provide the LNG fuel for the new generation of Sovcomflot (SCF) Group’s 114,000 deadweight ice-classed Aframax tankers, that are scheduled to come into operation beginning in Q3 2018.

The vessel will be based at the port of Rotterdam and will load from the third berth at the Maasvlakte Gate LNG Terminal, where it is expected to arrive in the second half of this year