US privately-owned firm Quality Liquefied Natural Gas Transport (Q-LNG) said its first newbuild vessel has completed sea trials.
The Q-LNG 4000 LNG ATB left shipbuilder VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula and is currently underway for Elba Island in Georgia.
There, it will load LNG and complete a series of trials, according to the firm owned by Harvey Gulf’s CEO Shane Guidry.
Following successful gas trials, the vessel will start serving a long-time charter with a unit of Shell. It will mainly bunker LNG-powered ships calling in the various ports in Florida.
To remind, Q-LNG said in June the New Orleans-based firm expected to have a delivery date “within a few weeks”.
Once in service, the 4000-cbm ship will also become the first offshore LNG articulated tug and barge in America.
It is essentially an LNG bunkering vessel but it can be used a small-scale carrier as well.
Worth mentioning here, Q-LNG has also earlier this year secured an approval from US Coast Guard to move forward with construction on two variants of its design.
The designs, each for a 5,400-cbm and 8,000-cbm articulated tug and barge, are both variations of the current 4,000-cbm ATB design.