Qatargas Receives Green Award for Three LNG Vessels

Qatargas received the Green Award for three more of its chartered Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) vessels – a significant recognition acknowledging the vessels’ compliance with global environment regulations and safety standards.

The Green Award for the vessels, ‘Broog’, ‘Al Zubarah’ and ‘Zekreet’ were presented to the vessel operators, in the presence of Mr. Alaa Abu Jbara, Qatargas’ Chief Operating Officer – Commercial and Shipping by Mr. Jan Fransen, Managing Director of the Green Award Foundation, at a ceremony held at Qatargas’ head office building in Doha.

Also at the ceremony, the operators of the three vessels received the Green Award office certificate, which is a pre-requisite for the validity of the vessel certificate.

Mr. Hiroshi Yonezawa, President of NYK LNG Ship Management Ltd. received the office certificate as well as the vessel certificate for ‘Broog’. Mr. Larry Dickens, Doha General Manager of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) received the office certificate as well as the vessel certificate for ‘Al Zubarah’ while Mr. Takayoshi Kaneko, Chief Representative, Middle East Representative Office of K-Line received the office certificate and the vessel certificate for ‘Zekreet’.

Mr. Alaa Abu Jbara, Qatargas Chief Operating Officer – Commercial and Shipping congratulated the vessel operators and the Qatargas Shipping Team on this achievement and said:

“Qatargas Shipping Team has been working with the Green Award Foundation to qualify our LNG vessels into the Green Award certification system. Today we are seeing the results of all the hard work. This is a major achievement for Qatargas and for the LNG industry. It is a great honour for us that major shipping companies like NYK, MOL and K-Line have enrolled in the Green Award programme. We hope that our other partners and the rest of the industry will also join us.”

Mr. Abdurrahman Al-Mulla, Qatargas Shipping Manager who has recently been appointed a member of the Green Award Foundation Board of Experts added:

“The strong support and ambitious drive for excellence of Qatargas’ Senior Management, combined with the dedication and hard work of the Shipping Team and our collective partners has certainly paid off. Three more vessels have now received the Green Award, with many more to come. Qatargas is fully committed to such initiatives and we are always happy to share our success”.

Mr. Jan Fransen, Managing Director of the Green Award Foundation said:

“I would like to thank Qatargas for hosting this event. This is a very special occasion for all of us. We are proud that we launched the Green Award for LNG vessels in September this year with the help of Qatargas. We are also proud that today we have three major Japanese shipping companies who enrolled their vessels to the Green Award Foundation. This is good for the shipping companies, for Qatargas, and for the industry and of course for the Green Award Foundation.”

Green award certification demonstrates proactive implementation of industry best practices and internationally accepted current and developing legislation in safety in operations, quality management, ship arrangements and protection of the environment.

In October this year, the Qatargas-chartered LNG vessel, “SS Dukhan” received the world’s first ever Green Award certificate of recognition, for a specific LNG vessel, acknowledging the vessel’s compliance with global environment regulations and safety standards.

Qatargas’ collaboration with the Green Award Foundation has been instrumental in launching the Green Award certificate for LNG vessels. Qatargas Shipping Team worked closely with the Green Award Foundation in conducting a feasibility study regarding the enrollment of LNG vessels into the certification programme and assisted in developing the requirements and setting the standards for assessment. In March 2011, Qatargas received a certification of recognition from the Foundation acknowledging the company’s pioneering initiative in this area.

The Green Award for LNG vessels comes from the Green Award scheme, established in 1994, in order to promote quality shipping amongst sea-going vessels. All over the world the Green Award certifies ships, ship managers and energy companies that prove their dedication to high quality, safety and environmental standards.

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World Maritime News Staff, December 26, 2011; Image: Qatargas