Photo credit: Sogestran
On November 13 the “Energy Stockholm”, Europe’s largest inland LNG bunker vessel with a capacity of 8,000 m³, was christened in Rotterdam by its godmother, Saheera Ahmad, head of business development, Marine LNG for Shell.
The newbuild vessel is owned and operated by LNG Shipping, which is a joint venture between Belgium-based bunker supplier Victrol and French river shipping company Sogestran.
Sogestran notes that the LNG bunkering vessel will be handed over to Shell Western LNG B.V (Shell) under a long-term charter contract, for LNG bunkering operations in the ports of Zeebrugge, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam (ZARA).
The “Energy Stockholm” will increase Shell’s bunkering capacity in the ZARA region, and it is capable of bunkering a wide variety of vessels, from ferries to large container ships since its LNG cargo handling system allows it to bunker not only traditional tanks but also membrane-type tanks.
The newbuilt LNG bunker vessel is equipped with energy efficient technologies such as a hybrid-electric dual-fuel propulsion system powered by pure gas and diesel generators (compatible with bio-diesel), and it is able to recover cargo boil-off gas (liquefied gas that evaporates in the tanks during storage) to be burnt as fuel.
Furthermore, the vessel is the first LNG bunker vessel for inland waterways to use batteries and shore power connection, plus a 500 kWh battery pack allows it to navigate under battery power for 30 minutes at a time.
The “Energy Stockholm” is LNG Shipping’s second inland bunker vessel chartered to Shell, as the first “LNG London” was launched in July 2019 having a capacity of 3,000 m³.
