LNG

Sembcorp Marine, the Singapore-based shipbuilding and conversions yard for offshore energy platforms, including for the LNG sector, has issued a further explanation to shareholders scheduled to meet on February 16 to vote on the merger with Keppel Offshore and Marine.

Pavilion Energy of Singapore and Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines held a ship-naming ceremony at Sembcorp Marine’s Tuas Boulevard shipyard for the 12,000 cubic metres capacity bunkering vessel “Brassavola”, the largest of its kind to be built in the Asian city state.

ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, the Israeli containership company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has signed a liquefied natural gas bunkering accord valued at $1 billion with UK-based energy major Shell.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French designer of maritime liquefied natural gas storage and fuel tanks, has won approval from France’s classification society Bureau Veritas for a new ballast-free LNG bunker and feeder vessel.

GTT said it gained approval in principle from Bureau Veritas for the “Shear-Water” ballast-free concept.

“The majority of merchant vessels worldwide use ballast water when they are empty or partially loaded to maintain seaworthy conditions,” explained GTT.

“Therefore, a considerable quantity of ballast water is carried by ships every day. Even when ballast water is treated, there is a risk of transferring harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens from one area to another,” it noted.

“The solution developed by GTT eliminates this risk completely. In addition, removing the ballast water treatment system also reduces the energy consumption and CO2 footprint of the vessels,” added GTT.

GTT said that its “Shear-Water” concept was based on the currently proven vessel of 18,700 cubic metres capacity with two membrane tanks.

“The design also features a new hull shape, in a ‘V’, which differs from the standard square shaped mid-ship sections traditionally used for LNG carriers,” said GTT.

Hamburg testing

The Paris-based company explained that “an exhaustive testing campaign” has been carried out at the HSVA Hamburg (Germany) tank test facility in connection with power-speed, manoeuvrability and general seaworthiness.

“A sloshing test campaign has also been carried out by GTT to ensure the technical feasibility of the project and the excellent results obtained helped approve the concept,” added GTT.

Previous Approvals in Principle for the “Shear-Water” concept have been received from the China Classification Society and the European class society DNV.

“We are proud to have developed ‘Shear-Water’, an innovative ballast-free design for LNG bunker and feeder vessels,” said GTT Chairman and Chief Executive Philippe Berterottière.

“This new technological solution allows a reduction in investment and operating costs, simpler operations as well as a reduction in corrosion supporting a longer service life,” he added.

Mathieu De Tugny, Vice-President of Bureau Veritas, said the GTT design had clear performance and environmental benefits.

“These include less onboard equipment, easier maintenance of the void spaces surrounding the cargo and reduced propulsion power requirements,” added De Tugny.

“Bureau Veritas has monitored and reviewed all the test results performed to support its approval in principle,” he stated.

Titan LNG, the bunkering fuel supplier in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) area of northwest Europe, has partnered with Malaysian energy company Petronas for a successful re-fuelling operation for an LNG-powered Very Large Crude Carrier chartered by Koch Industries of the US.

Avenir LNG, the Norwegian small-scale LNG business, said the carrier “Avenir Accolade” would deliver the commissioning cargo to the latest Italian regasification terminal on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia after making its way from Asia.

Avenir, a joint venture between London-based Stolt-Nielsen and partners Höegh LNG and Golar LNG Ltd., took delivery of the 7,500 cubic metres capacity dual-purpose LBV “Avenir Accolade” in March 2021 from the Keppel Offshore and Marine shipyard in the Chinese port of Nantong.

The “Avenir Accolade” has an overall length of 124 metres and her beam is 18 metres.

Avenir said a ship-to-ship bunkering of the “Avenir Accolade” was carried out on April 26 by its sister ship, the “Avenir Advantage”, off Pengerang in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia.

The Maltese-flagged “Avenir Accolade” is scheduled to transit the Suez Canal on May 15 into the East Mediterranean, according to shipping data.

“We’re thrilled to see the ‘Avenir Advantage’ alongside the ‘Avenir Accolade’, the first time they are back together since leaving the shipyard in Nantong,” said Peter Mackey, Chief Executive of Avenir LNG Ltd.

Schedule

“We look forward to welcoming the ‘Avenir Accolade’ to our HIGAS terminal in Sardinia in a few weeks’ time with the commissioning cargo onboard,” added Mackey.

“We continue to make significant strides in executing our strategy for Avenir LNG,” the CEO explained.

“The Avenir team and the crews onboard our vessels deserve a huge amount of praise for all they have accomplished during these enormously challenging times,” he stated.

Stolt-Nielsen started up the small-scale LNG sector firm Avenir in 2015 and its two main investors, Golar and Höegh, each have 22.5 percent of Avenir.

In addition to its growing small-scale fleet Avenir has an 80 percent stake in the small-scale Higas terminal being commissioned in May.

The terminal is located at the Port of Oristano and includes a jetty capable of receiving LNG vessels up to 20,000 cubic metres, an unloading arm, six horizontal cryogenic holding tanks of 1,500 cubic metres capacity each, two LNG truck-loading bays and a natural gas power generation system.

The Sardinian terminal will be capable of loading around 8,000 LNG trucks each year for subsequent distribution to smaller satellite stations across the island in a classic version of a targeted small-scale LNG project.

Sardinia currently lacks a system of access to natural gas and only a small number of industrial customers receive LNG by truck which is brought to the island by ferry.

Royal Dutch Shell’s head of shipping has told a conference in Singapore that LNG was the lowest emission maritime fuel available at scale in the shipping sector today and is the ideal solution for the years ahead.

Peninsula Petroleum, a leading marine fuels company, teamed up with Petronas Marine of Malaysia to complete its first LNG bunker supply to H-Line Shipping of South Korea in Malaysian waters.

Avenir LNG, a company owned by Norwegian shipping and infrastructure companies, said its newest 7,500 cubic metres capacity LNG bunkering vessel has been launched in China and it would be delivered later in 2021.

Anglo-Australian global commodities company BHP has awarded its first LNG supply agreement for five LNG-fuelled Newcastlemax bulk carriers, which will transport iron ore between Western Australia and China from 2022.