Largest US LNG bunker vessel delivered by Fincantieri

A second similar-sized LNG ATB barge is being built by Fincantieri for an affiliate of Polaris New Energy. Those will be the largest LNG bunker vessels by capacity in the US until 2024, when Fincantieri delivers a 12,000-m³ LNG bunker barge for Crowley Maritime.

The bunker barge will have two IMO Type C, foam-insulated tanks, with an overall length of 126.8 m, beam of 20.7 m, depth of 11.6 m and design draught of 5.8 m. Privately held Crowley will manage the crew and bunker barge under a long-term charter with Shell.

With the delivery of Clean Canaveral, the US now has three LNG bunker vessels. The others are the 4,000-m³ Q-LNG 4000, owned by Q-LNG Transport, and 2,200-m³ Clean Jacksonville, owned by TOTE. Shell has a long-term charter for Q LNG 4000 based in Port Canaveral, Florida.

Speaking at the delivery ceremony, Polaris New Energy senior vice president of operations Thomas Sullivan said, “When Northstar decided to enter the LNG bunkering business, we reached out to several shipyards for bids. But based on our past experience with Fincantieri Bay [Shipbuilding], the incredible talent of the team that’s standing before me now, the welders, the pipe fitters, the electricians, the paint crew, and everyone behind the scenes, my hope was we could come to terms with Fincantieri Bay. And thankfully we did that, because the work that you’ve done is incredible.”

In keeping with maritime tradition, Mr Sullivan’s daughter-in-law Candyce Sullivan broke a bottle of champagne on the ship’s hull.