Titan Clean Fuels (Titan), part of Molgas group, has entered into a long-term agreement with shipowner Sogestran Group for the construction, charter and operation of a new 6,000 cbm LNG bunker vessel (LNGBV).
Titan is planning to operate the LNGBV throughout the Western Mediterranean.
It will be able to load LNG from a series of terminals in the Mediterranean Sea and to offer LNG and LBM (liquified bio methane) bunkering as well as gas up and cool down services to all types of LNG fueled vessels in major Mediterranean ports, including Fos-Marseille, Barcelona and Genoa.
The LNGBV has been jointly developed and designed by the Titan and Sogestran teams to cater to the navigational, operational and commercial characteristics of Western Mediterranean ports, LNG reloading terminals and receiving vessels calling the ports in the region.
The ship will join the Molgas Group’s overall fleet of eight LNG bunker vessels in operation across Northern Europe, six vessels form Titan’s fleet and two are trading for Molgas Norway.
The vessel will be built by CIMC SOE, the Chinese shipyard specialising in small and medium-sized gas carriers.
“We’re excited to grow our LNG bunker vessel fleet, by expanding our capacity to cater to our clients in terms of bunkering volume and geographical location,” said Grégoire Hartig, commercial director at Titan. “LNG and LBM have proven to be the leading alternative fuels as the shipping industry continues its energy transition, and we intend to match this growing demand.”
“Thanks to our in-house engineering capabilities and the close collaboration established with Titan’s technical teams from the earliest stages of the project, we have been able to design a tailor-made vessel perfectly suited to the operational requirements of the Western Mediterranean,” added Benoist Grosjean, managing director of Sogestran Shipping. “Its low-air-draft design will notably enable it to bunker cruise ships without the use of a pontoon. Moreover, the vessel itself will be LNG/LBM-fuelled, contributing to the decarbonisation of maritime transport.”
