Gallery: BW Boston undergoing a complete makeover

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker BW Boston is currently located in Navantia shipyard in Ferrol, Spain where it is getting a massive refurbishment as part of the vessels’ scheduled dry-docking.

This is the vessels’ first major refurbishment since it was built back in 2003 by South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering.

The LNG carrier with the capacity to transport up to 138,059 cubic meters of the chilled fuel, is a part of BW’s LNG fleet and chartered by Engie for a period of 20 years.

Worth mentioning, BW and Engie have been for years cooperating in the LNG shipping sector. Engie has currently four BW’s LNG vessels under charter.

The BW Boston mostly transports LNG from Trinidad’s Point Fortin liquefaction plant to the US Everett LNG terminal in Boston harbor.

The steam-powered LNG tanker arrived at the Navantia shipyard on June 20 for the scheduled dry-docking.

It was undocked from the dry dock on Sunday morning and is now alongside berth for the last stretch of the refurbishment works.

The works are expected to be completed on July 20 and the vessel is scheduled to load its first Trinidad cargo after the big makeover around August 7-8.

Costs “significantly” higher than a standard refurbishment

The scope of works on the 277 meters long BW Boston includes the renewal of the vessel’s control systems, so-called integrated automation systems, provided by Kongsberg.

Around 2000 meters of new cables have been installed on the vessel with more ordered to complete the retrofit of the control systems, Frédéric Blanc, Head of Technical at Engie’s LNG shipping unit, told LNG World News on Thursday during a visit by a small group of media representatives to the BW Boston.

The visit was led by Benjamin Maruenda, Chief Strategy & Communication Officer of Engie’s LNG business.

The works also include inspection and corrective actions on the cargo containment systems and ballast tanks, main turbines, as well as the boiler systems.

As part of the refurbishment, the vessel is getting new mooring ropes, provided by Samson, which will enable it to transit the expanded Panama Canal.

The vessel has also been renamed, the third time since it left the DSME shipyard in 2003.

About 100 crew members, engineers, technicians and other contractors have been involved in the latest refurbishment. These numbers do not include the Navantia shipyard staff, said Sarah Soon, Commercial Analyst at BW LNG, during the visit.

The cost of the works on the BW Boston have not been revealed, however, Frédéric Blanc has said the overall cost of this refurbishment was “significantly” higher than a standard scheduled refurbishment due to additional works.

According to Frédéric Blanc, the cost of a standard scheduled dry-docking, that is being done every 5 years, is about 4 to 6 million US dollars.

In the gallery bellow, you will find images of the BW Boston and the works being performed on the LNG vessel.

By Mirza Duran