Chinese shipbuilder Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering has laid the keel for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering vessel it is building for Scale Gas, a unit of Spain’s Enagas.
On March 20, CIMC SOE, a part of CIMC Enric, held the keel-cutting ceremony for the vessel (S1092).
CIMC SOE designed the LNG bunkering ship, which will have a capacity of 12,500 cbm and feature electric propulsion.
The shipbuilder announced this contract in December 2023, and officially started building the vessel in October 2024.
Following delivery in 2026, the ship will work in the Canary Islands.
In 2022, Enagas said it received funding from the Spanish government to build a bunkering vessel for the supply of LNG and bio-LNG in the Canary Islands.
A unit of Finland’s Wartsila secured a contract to supply a cargo handling system for the LNG bunkering vessel owned by Scale Gas.
The Wartsila equipment is scheduled to be delivered to the yard during the second quarter of 2025.
Scale Gas currently has two LNG bunkering vessels in its fleet.
In 2023, marine fuel supplier Peninsula started delivering LNG to vessels in Gibraltar with the 12,500-cbm Levante LNG.
South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo built this vessel for Scale Gas and Peninsula for about $60 million.
In addition, Knutsen, Enagas, and Shell officially launched the 5,000-cbm LNG bunkering ship, Haugesund Knutsen, in the Spanish port of Barcelona in 2023.
Spain’s Armon Gijon built this LNG bunkering vessel for Knutsen and Scale Gas, and it serves a charter with Shell.