Dual-fuel AET tankers conduct maiden LNG bunkering

First dual-fuel sister Aframaxes owned by AET, a unit of the Malaysian shipping giant MISC, have completed their maiden ship-to-ship LNG bunkering.

AET said that the vessels Eagle Brasilia and Eagle Bintulu conducted the operations in Port of Rotterdam earlier in April.

This is their first call to port in Europe as they make their journey and tour of duty towards the Atlantic Basin.

Each vessel was loaded with 1,040 cubic meters of LNG, filling about 60 percent of the receiving vessel’s total capacity, allowing them a considerable trade mileage of about 3,600 nautical miles running on LNG fuel.

Currently, LNG is considered a cheaper and eco-friendlier alternative than low sulfur oil and scrubber over long term, to meet the IMO 2020 regulations that require the reduction of SOx emissions from 1.5% to 0.5%.

The Eagle Brasilia and Eagle Bintulu were named in October 2018 at the Samsung Heavy Industry (SHI) shipyard in Geoje, South Korea. Both vessels are employed on a long-term charter by Shell, primarily for operations in the Atlantic Basin.