Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding starts building the largest USA-built LNG barge
The 127 metre (416 feet) vessel will have the capacity for 12,000 m3 of LNG, will be the largest Jones Act-compliant vessel of its kind. It is being built for Crowley, the largest independent operator of tank vessels in the USA and was designed by Crowley Engineering Services, the company’s naval architecture and marine engineering solutions group.
The vessel will service the East Coast under a long-term charter with Shell NA LNG and is the second Jones Act-compliant bunker barge Shell has under a time charter in the USA.
Shell strengthens LNG bunkering position
In January 2021, Shell announced that the first offshore LNG bunkering articulated tug and barge (ATB) in the USA, the Q-LNG 4000, performed its first operation with a Siem car carrier. Shell is aiming to double its LNG bunkering network by the mid-2020s, to around 15 major ports on key international trading routes.
Shell has also significantly invested in LNG for its long-term charter fleet. The company expects to take delivery of 16 dual-fuel LNG carriers, 10 LNG dual-fuel Aframax crude oil tankers, four new LNG dual-fuel oil products tankers and 40 new dual-fuel tanker barges to transport petroleum products on European inland waterways from 2021 onwards. Shell is aiming to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 or sooner and believes LNG is the first essential step for decarbonisation of the maritime sector.
More newbuildings from Fincantieri
In December 2021, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding delivered the 104 metre (340 feet) LNG bunkering barge, Clean Canaveral, to Polaris New Energy. The 5,500 cubic meter ATB is the largest ever built in the USA and will soon be followed by another barge of similar size for an affiliate of Polaris New Energy. As previously reported, Wärtsilä has been awarded the contract to supply the second vessel with a complete LNG cargo storage and handling system. It will be fitted with four 1,375 CBM IMO Type C tanks and will be an Oceans Classed ABS barge.
