With a shift towards lower carbon-intensive fuels, Hamburg-based LNG supplier Nauticor and German shipyard Fr Fassmer have begun co-operating on building and retrofitting LNG-fuelled vessels
Nauticor chief executive Richard Schröder is convinced “the shipyard’s customers will significantly benefit from the co-operation between the two companies.” Mr Schröder said among the benefits are “Nauticor’s expert knowledge regarding sourcing, storage and transport of LNG, as well as our knowledge about executing LNG bunkering operations for vessels.”
The first project conducted under the new co-operation was the commissioning and initial LNG bunkering of research vessel Atair at the Fassmer shipyard. Fassmer was awarded the contract to build the new sea surveying, wreck search and research vessel for the German Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. The 75-m vessel will enter service in 2020, replacing a 30-year-old vessel of the same name. Nauticor was responsible for purchasing and transporting the LNG for the initial bunkering and will supply LNG throughout the whole LNG trial period.
“This successful initial LNG bunkering operation for the Atair clearly illustrates the importance of co-operation for innovative projects, such as the first German research vessel running on LNG,” said Mr Schröder.
The two companies first worked together in 2015 with the construction of Helgoland, the first LNG-fuelled ferry in Germany. Bomin Linde, Nauticor’s predecessor, supplied the first LNG for the vessel at the Berne shipyard.
Fassmer project head Christian Schmidt said the co-operation was prompted by a “rising interest in newbuilds and retrofits equipped with environmentally friendly propulsion.”
In 2019, 100 LNG-fuelled vessels were ordered, three times the average between 2016 and 2018, according to DNV GL.
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