Bureau Veritas to class first LNG bunker barge

Classification society Bureau Veritas has been chosen to class a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering vessel [pictured] which is due to be built at Hanjin Heavy Industries, Korea, under an agreement between Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line) and Mitsubishi and France’s GDF-Suez.

According to Bureau Veritas, the vessel will carry 5,000 cubic metres (cbm) of LNG as marine fuel stored at 4 Bar in two IMO Type C pressure tanks. Delivery is set for 2016 when the vessel is scheduled to operate from the Fluxys LNG Terminal in Zeebrugge, initially supplying LNG fuel from GDF-Suez to the fleet of United European Car Carriers (UECC).

Philippe Donche-Gay, Executive Vice-President and head of the marine and offshore division of Bureau Veritas, said: "Our experience with every type and size of gas carrier, our lead in the area of dual-fuel and multi-function gas carriers and our ability to support the partners means we can make a real contribution to this initiative. It will help kick-start LNG bunkering, bringing forward the use of this clean fuel in North European waters."

The LNG bunker barge will have an LOA ('length overall') of 111 metres, a beam of 16.8 metres and a draft of 4.9 metres and will have dual-fuel diesel-electric propulsion with twin azipods for high manoeuvrability.

Bureau Veritas said the vessel will be "built and equipped to the highest environmental friendliness standards" and classed with the following notations:

I + HULL + MACH, Liquefied Gas Carrier (LNG), IMO type 2G (-163°C, 4.0 barg), Unrestricted navigation, Dual Fuel, + AUT-UMS, + SYS - NEQ – 1, + Veristar Hull, AVM-DPS, CLEANSHIP, INWATERSURVEY, CPS (WBT), GREEN PASSPORT

Image: An artist's graphic of the LNG bunker barge for GDF-Suez.

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Bureau Veritas to class first LNG bunker barge

Vessel is scheduled to operate from the Fluxys LNG Terminal in Zeebrugge, initially supplying LNG fuel to the fleet of United European Car Carriers (UECC).

Fuels & Propulsion

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