Trio signs agreement to construct LNG bunkering vessel

CGR Arctic Marine, Wuzhou Shipbuilding, and Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI) have signed a three-party agreement for the design and construction of a 6,000 cbm LNG bunkering vessel.

CGR said that the agreement was an important milestone for the commercialization of the liquid methane bunkering (LMB) design, and advancements in seaborn LNG bunkering operation and services.

The agreement was signed between the chairman of Wuzhou Shipbuilding Pan Xue Jian, VP of SDARI Zhou Zhi Yong, and founder of CGR Bard Norberg.

Norberg said: “We strongly believe that our LMB 6 design will set new standards in flexibility, environmentally friendly, cost, and energy-efficient LNG bunkering operations in the future.

“We are very satisfied with the cooperation with Wuzhou Shipbuilding and SDARI during the concept design and pre-engineering phase and is looking forward to embark on the next phases on this project.”

According to CGR, it developed and designed a “game-changing” LNG bunkering vessel implementing propitiatory multi-purpose gas recovery technology in combination with a hybrid power solution.

With a containerized battery bank and a low energy-consuming cargo handling system, CGR claims that the vessel will offer “the lowest environmental footprint possible” with the current state of the art technologies.

The design introduces a new gas handling process for fuel tank gassing-up and decontamination operations as well as vapor recovery, sub-cooling, and re-liquefaction operations. The vessel features one IMO type C tank with spray foam insulation.