Shell expands its Americas’ LNG bunker barge fleet

Oil and gas major Shell has deployed its third LNG bunker delivery vessel to cater to vessels in the Americas.

PHOTO: LNG bunkering barge New Frontier 2 at sea. Shell

The 18,000-cbm capacity LNG bunkering vessel, New Frontier 2, is the third vessel to be deployed in the Americas and part of Shell’s global LNG bunkering fleet of 12.

New Frontier 2 will be “capable of bunkering multiple ship types, both in port and offshore” along with providing “loading and gas-up/cool-down services to LNG carriers and LNG-fueled vessels.”

The vessel has been built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and chartered out by Seoul-based shipping company Pan Ocean.

The move will increase “Shell LNG’s availability across key bunkering locations worldwide,” Shell Trading’s global head of downstream LNG Tahir Faruqui says.

Also this month, Shell launched an 8,000-cbm-capacity bunker barge, Energy Stockholm, to address LNG bunkering demand in the ARA region. The dual-fuel bunker barge is equipped with battery technology and shore power.

The vessel is owned and operated by LNG Shipping - a joint venture between Dutch shipping company Victrol and French maritime firm Sogestran - and is chartered out to Shell. It has been designed by Dutch ship designer International Naval Engineering Consultants (INEC) and built by Turkish shipbuilder RMK Marine Shipyard.

The global LNG bunker delivery vessel fleet currently consists of 48 vessels, with another 16 vessels planned and 21 under discussion, according to the classification society DNV.

By Tuhin Roy

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