Navigation systems, controls and equipment are now being installed on Russia’s first LNG bunkering vessel following its launch at Keppel Nantong Shipyard
Sea trials for the 5,800-m3 LNG bunker vessel are planned for Q2 2021.
Named in honour of the great Russian chemist and researcher Dmitry Mendeleev, the LNG bunker vessel will provide ship-to-ship bunkering of low-tonnage LNG fuel at ports in the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea including St Petersburg, Ust-Luga and Primorsk when it joins Gazprom Neft’s fleet in H2 2021.
Designing the Gazprom Neft LNG-bunkering vessel has involved cutting-edge shipbuilding and LNG storage and transportation technologies, with equipment being fully compliant with international Marpol Convention standards and ECO-S environmental certification. The vessel has been designed on the basis of ’zero emissions’, with its propulsion system fuelled by boil-off LNG.
Dmitry Mendeleev has an overall length of 100 m, beam of 19 m, with two IMO type C tanks with capacity of 5,800 m3. Its Arc4 ice-class reinforced hull means it can navigate one-year-old ice of up to 80 cm thick independently, while its integrated digital system means it can be controlled by just one crew member, directly from the navigation bridge.
Gazprom Neft deputy chief executive for logistics, processing and sales Anatoly Cherner said “Its environmental and performance characteristics are going to see liquid natural gas becoming one of the main motor fuels in the medium term, in considerable demand in international shipping. Our company was the first in Russia to initiate a project to build an LNG-powered vessel for bunkering. This is a key stage in developing domestic eco-friendly shipping.” Mr Cherner said the completion of the LNG bunker vessel in 2021 would be a “major step forward.”
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