Building starts on Shell LNG bunker vessel
The South Korean shipbuilding company STX Offshore & Shipbuilding has started construction on the LNG bunker vessel that Shell will be operating from the port of Rotterdam. Shell has also announced its ‘launching customer’ for the ship: the Finnish company Containerships Ltd Oy, the company said in its press release.
The bunker vessel will be taken into operation in mid-2017 – six months after the scheduled opening of the breakbulk jetty realised by the Rotterdam-based Gate terminal. The facility’s first customers will include six 1,400-TEU dual-fuel engine technology container ships operated by Containerships Ltd Oy that are presently being constructed in China. This means that with this new LNG ship-to-ship sea bunkering project, Rotterdam will have a true European first.
The new bunker vessel, the name of which has not yet been announced, will have a capacity of 6,500 m³ and will distribute LNG from the Gate Terminal throughout North-western Europe. Shell is making more and more targeted investments in gas. The corporation intends to strengthen its position in Europe’s gas and LNG market by building a dedicated distribution network for the transport industry.
