Freeport LNG’s milestone cargo heads to China

According to vessel tracking provider MarineTraffic.com, British Contributor will take more than a month to transit to the Port of Tianjin in China, arriving on 7 December. Tianjin is the location of the Tianjin LNG import terminal, owned and operated by the Sinopec Group.

"This is a tremendous achievement for Freeport LNG and our customers," said Freeport LNG founder, chairman and chief executive Michael Smith.

Loading its first cargo in September 2019, Freeport LNG began full commercial operations of its US$13.5Bn, three-train facility in May. The seventh-largest LNG export facility in the world and second largest in the US, Freeport LNG expects to add a fourth train, which has received regulatory approvals for construction.

British Contributor also made the first nighttime transit from the terminal. Such evening transits are expected to be made on a more routine basis by early next year, said Freeport LNG.

British Contributor and its sister British Partner are both Partnership-class LNG carriers, each with an overall length of 294.9 m, beam of 46.4 m, capacity of 173,400 m³ and powered by ME-GI propulsion.

Freeport LNG’s limited partnership interests are ultimately held by Mr Smith, Global Infrastructure Partners, and Osaka Gas Co, Ltd.