Another Link In Med LNG Supply Chain
The London-based operator, a joint venture of Stolt-Nielsen, Hoegh LNG and Golar LNG, will deploy the vessel in the Mediterranean, with the twin roles of supplying the company’s new HIGAS LNG terminal in Sardinia and providing LNG bunkers via ship-to-ship transfer.
Following the completion of two 7,627m3, slightly longer newbuilds by Keppel Singmarine’s Nantong yard in China, the 116m Avenir Aspiration was handed over on 8 October as the first of four vessels booked with Nantong CIMC Offshore & Engineering. The three ships to come comprise a 7,500m3 sister to Avenir Aspiration, plus two equally versatile, but substantially more capacious vessels of 20,000m3.
In each case as regards the latest quartet, hull fabrication plus outfitting has been assigned by Nantong CIMC to Zhoushan Changhong, in Zhejiang province. All four have been developed by Shanghai Marine Design & Research Institute (SDARI) on behalf of Avenir.
The 7,500m3 design encapsulated by Avenir Aspiration employs a dual-fuel electric propulsion system. Equipped with twin Kongsberg azimuthing main thrusters and bow tunnel thrusters, the vessel has the wherewithal to ensure the low-speed manoeuvring and independent berthing ability necessary for LNG refuelling and transfer operations in ports and at anchorages.
The three main generators are driven by MAN eight-cylinder L23/30DF dual-fuel engines, which ingest cargo vapour, saving energy and reducing emissions. A gas combustion unit is fitted for handling excess boil-off.
Although of comparable capacity to the latest ship, the Keppel-built sisters Avenir Advantage and Avenir Accolade have dual-fuel mechanical, single-screw installations, based on Wartsila 6L34DF main machinery. The vessels are engaged in South East Asian and Brazilian waters, respectively.
The arrival of the Avenir Aspiration, which is husbanded by Hoegh LNG Fleet Management, will signify an important juncture in the creation of a marine LNG supply chain in the Mediterranean. The vessel offers a pumping throughput of 1,000m3 per hour. The ship’s service profile will gravitate around the HIGAS small-scale LNG import, storage and distribution facility in Oristano, on Sardinia’s west coast. Full commercial operations started in August this year at the terminal, which supplies customers throughout the island via road transport and pipeline.
HIGAS receives shipments from the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) LNG Croatia, the former LNG carrier Golar Viking, stationed at Krk Island, off Croatia’s northern Adriatic shore.
