Americas News
Construction of First U.S. LNG Bunker Barge Underway
Conrad Orange Shipyard, Inc. (Conrad), located in Orange, Texas, Wednesday held a keel-laying ceremony for the first liquid natural gas (LNG) bunker barge to be built in the U.S., Marine Log reports.
WesPac Midstream LLC (WesPac) in cooperation with its affiliate Clean Marine Energy LLC (CME), announced in February that it had signed a deal to build at the LNG bunker barge for ship operator Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE).
Designed by Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. and built to American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) class, the barge is said to be set to have a 2,200 m3 capacity and feature a tank with Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT) MARK III Flex cargo containment technology.
Further, the barge design is reported to include an "innovative" bunker mast design, Refueling Equipment Arm, Methane [CH4] (REACH4), to ensure a simple and safe transfer of LNG fuel to the vessel.
Scheduled for delivery in 2016, the barge is said to be intended to service TOTE's Orca class RO/RO vessels, which are currently being retrofitted with Wärtsilä dual fuel engines to burn both LNG and diesel.
After initial deployment, the barge will reportedly be relocated to Jacksonville, Florida, serving TOTE's 3,100 TEU Marlin Class container ships that are currently under construction, as well as other LNG vessels at the port.
In May, TRI-ZEN International Pte Ltd. released a paper that argued that, although LNG bunker markets have managed to establish themselves in Europe and the U.S., uptake has been "slower than hoped for."
