Skangass commissions custom LNG bunker vessel
Skangass announced that it will make LNG more readily available as marine fuel in the area Skagerrak, Kattegat and Baltic Sea by operating the Coralius, a new specialised bunker vessel. Skangass has entered into a long-term agreement for the vessel, which will offer greater flexibility by operating as a ship-to-ship bunker vessel, as well as a feeder, the company said in its press release.
The new bunker vessel will be ready in early 2017.
Skangass has a profound belief in the potential growth of LNG as fuel for the marine market. Consequently, the company has taken another major step in developing this market by entering into a long-term charter for the 5.800 m3 bunker vessel Coralius.
The vessel will provide easy access to LNG bunkering to customers and limit the operational impact of calling a port in order to bunker. During the design phase, great emphasis has been placed on the ship’s systems for ship-to-ship operation to ensure that she is optimised to perform LNG bunkering offshore.
“Recently, we entered into our first ship-to-ship bunker contract with NEOT in Finland. Building the new vessel Coralius is the natural step for meeting this demand, and further developing our marine LNG supply chain. Although we already satisfy our marine clients’ needs by truck-to-ship and terminals-to-ship bunkering, we need to further develop the infrastructure. By doing so, we will also be in a much stronger position to meet steadily rising demand for LNG,” says Tor Morten Osmundsen, CEO of Skangass.
Coralius will deliver LNG to marine clients in a flexible and safe way, offering excellent accessibility and high transfer rates to minimise bunker time. The increasing demand for LNG from marine customers can be attributed to LNG being a clean fuel that meets MARPOL Protocol regulations that require sulphur emissions to be lower than 0.1% in the ECA area (Emission Control Area).
The building of Coralius is part of the Joint Industry Project FLEXI, which is one of the pilot projects included in Pilot LNG. The project is part of the collaboration platform Zero Vision Tool and it is co-funded by the EU. The aim of the project is to establish an LNG bunkering infrastructure. Skangass developed the project in cooperation with Anthony Veder and Sirius. Their joint experience vouches for a robust and reliable concept. Skangass holds long experience in LNG bunkering. Anthony Veder is one of the leading suppliers of small scale LNG vessels. The local knowledge of Sirius was used in the new design and innovative solutions from Sirius provide a flexible and customer-friendly supply solution.
Coralius will be built by the shipyard Royal Bodewes in the Netherlands. The vessel will be owned by the Swedish/Dutch joint venture Sirius Veder Gas AB and operated by Sirius Rederi AB of Sweden.