Shell Charters US LNG Bunker Barge (Updates with US Supply Deal to Carnival)
Updates with news about agreement by Shell to supply Carnival cruiseliners in North America
Shell said November 7 it has signed its first long-term charter in the US of an LNG bunker barge.
It finalised a long-term charter agreement with newly-formed shipowner Q-LNG Transport for the as yet unbuilt LNG bunker barge, which will be able to carry 4,000m3 of LNG fuel. Shell said its decision reflects “growing cruise line demand for LNG marine fuel” in the US and that the new ocean-going vessel would supply bunker LNG along the southern East Coast of the US.
The new vessel will be owned and built by Q-LNG Transport and operated by Harvey Gulf International Marine, a pioneer of LNG as a fuel for its own fleet of offshore platform support vessels.
Harvey Gulf CEO Shane Guidry announced November 7 the formation of Q-LNG Transport; it will be 70%-owned by him, in his own right, and 30% by Harvey Gulf. Shell would operate the new vessel as a fuel source to various ports in Florida and the Caribbean, Guidry added. Hitherto, LNG-fuelled ships in the US have usually been fueled at the quayside by trucks.
Q-LNG has placed the order to build the new bunker barge with US shipbuilder VT Halter Marine, based in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Finnish technology firm Wartsila will supply its cargo handling, cargo control, and cargo containment system and engines. Shell said later on November 8 it expects the ship to be ready in 2020, while a Harvey Gulf spokeswoman told NGW that the bunker barge would be "delivered in 27.5 months and be commissioned as soon as delivered."
"This investment in LNG as a marine fuel for the US will provide the shipping industry with a fuel that helps meet tougher emissions regulations from 2020," said Shell integrated gas director Maarten Wetselaar. He said this would build on Shell's existing LNG bunkering activities in Singapore and Europe, and its recently announced plans in the Middle East.
Mark Smedley
Update: Carnival Cruise Line (CCL), the US arm of New York and London-listed cruise giant Carnival Corporation, announced November 8 it has signed up Shell NA LNG to be its supplier of marine liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power North America’s first fully LNG-powered cruise ships, including two new LNG-powered ships expected to launch in 2020 and 2022 and to be homeported in North America. The two new 180,000-ton ships will be the largest ships in CCL's fleet, each able to carry 5,200 passengers, and will use LNG in port and at sea.
“This agreement is a significant stepping stone in our relationship with Carnival Corporation building upon our previous LNG marine fuel supply agreements in Europe,” said Tahir Faruqui, president, Shell NA LNG.
CCL said the new agreement builds on the partnership established between Carnival Corporation’s Europe-based AIDA Cruises brand and Shell in April 2016 to supply its AIDA-prima ship with LNG to power the vessel while docked. That relationship was extended autumn 2016 when Carnival Corporation signed an agreement with Shell to supply LNG for two 'next-generation' LNG ships from its European AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises brands, which will be the world’s first fully LNG-powered cruise ships when they enter service in 2018 and 2019.