Energy giant Shell has started using a 174,000-cbm newbuild LNG carrier following delivery from Russia’s largest shipping firm Sovcomflot.
South Korea’s Hyundai Samho hosted a naming ceremony for the SCF Timmerman on January 12 and delivered it to Sovcomflot three days later.
The vessel embarked upon its maiden commercial voyage on Friday as part of a long-term charter deal with Shell, Sovcomflot said.
The Russian firm says the vessel’s charter will bring an additional $165 million of contract backlog.
SCF Timmerman is the third vessel in a series of 174,000-cbm Atlanticmax LNG carriers Sovcomflot ordered back in 2018.
The lead vessel of the series, SCF La Perouse, joined Sovcomflot’s fleet in February 2020 and started work with France-based Total.
In addition, the second vessel in the series, SCF Barents, also works for Shell and joined the fleet in September last year.
Each LNG carrier features GTT’s Mark III Flex cargo containment system and WinGD slow-speed dual-fuel X-DF engine.
Moreover, the vessels have a boil-off gas partial re-liquefaction system, which “significantly” reduces cargo losses while on long voyages or awaiting cargo operations, Sovcomflot said.