Turkey’s RMK Marine has launched an 8,000-cbm inland LNG bunkering barge for owners Victrol and Sogestran and charterer Shell.
The launching ceremony for the vessel named Energy Stockholm took place on July 7, according to a statement by Belgium’s Victrol and French Sogestran.
LNG Shipping, a joint venture of the two firms, will own and operate this vessel, while Shell will charter it for operations in the ports of Zeebrugge, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam.
The firms changed the vessel’s name as during the keel-laying ceremony in March this year, the partners announced the vessel as LNG Erasmus.
They claim that this is Europe’s largest inland waterway LNG bunkering barge and the first to use battery technology and shore power, which will help reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
Italy’s Gas & Heat will supply the tanks and cargo handling system for the new 8,000-cbm vessel designed by the International Naval Engineering Consultants, while MAN will deliver the dual-fuel engines.
Shell’s LNG bunkering business on the rise
Shell already charters the bunkering barge, LNG London, from LNG Shipping.
Launched in July 2019, this inland LNG bunkering barge, claimed to be the first such vessel in Europe, has a capacity of 3,000 cbm.
Last month, Shell added two more locations to its global LNG bunkering network as the number of LNG-powered vessels continues to grow.
The new LNG bunkering locations include Flushing and Antwerp.
“We are steadily expanding our bunker assets to enable LNG’s immediate availability and accessibility in supporting shipping decarbonization,” Shell’s head of downstream LNG, Tahir Faruqui, said.
“The new barge will increase Shell’s bunkering capacity in the ARA region. She will soon join our LNG fueling network, which is the largest in the world with 12 bunker vessels across 19 locations,” he said.
