• 13 Nov 2017

Shell Trading (US) Company announced it has finalized a long-term charter agreement with a newly formed marine transportation company Q-LNG ( Quality Liquefied Natural Gas Transport LLC) for an LNG bunker barge with the capacity to carry 4,000 cubic meters of LNG fuel.

The LNG bunker barge owned by Q-LNG  and operated by the parent company Harvey Gulf International Marine, LLC. will  deliver LNG as a fuel source to various ports in Florida and the Caribbean.

As the first of its kind to be based in the United States, the articulated tug-barge (ATB) will supply LNG to marine customers along the southern East Coast of the U.S. to ports in Florida and the Caribbean.

The ATB will be built VT Halter Marine, Inc., Pascagoula, Mississippi,  responding to the requirements of the International Gas Carrier (“IGC”) code. The barge will be 324’x64’x 32.6′, pushed by a 128’x42’x21′ tug. The project will rely heavily on the collaboration between VT Halter and Wärtsilä, who will be delivering a large scope of equipment to the project.

Wärtsilä’s deliverables for the barge include all of the cargo handling, cargo control, and cargo containment system as well as the PMS and automation onboard. For the tug, equipment from Wärtsilä will include all of the bridge navigation, communications, and dynamic positioning equipment as well as thruster, PMS and automation.

Harvey Gulf has been a leader in developing LNG use as marine fuel, delivering the first U.S. LNG-powered OSV Harvey Energy in February 2015, and building the first LNG marine fuel terminal in the U.S. at Port Fourchon, La.