Seaside LNG’s bunkering barge, Clean Jacksonville, will fuel Carnival’s newest LNG-powered vessel, Carnival Jubilee, under a new deal revealed on Wednesday.
The US firm backed by Houston-based Arroyo Investors said in a statement the it has entered into a term bunkering agreement with cruise giant Carnival to fuel the first LNG-powered cruise ship to call Galveston, Texas its homeport, Carnival Jubilee.
Also, the 2200-cbm Clean Jacksonville will move from Jacksonville, Florida to operate out of Galveston and serve the Texas Gulf Coast with its first LNG delivery to the Carnival Jubilee in December 2023, according to Seaside.
Seaside bought this year North America’s first LNG bunkering barge, Clean Jacksonville, from Tote Maritime Puerto Rico. It recently also took delivery of the 5,500-cbm LNG bunkering barge, Clean Everglades, and now has in total three LNG bunkering barges.
LNG will be trucked from inland
Through the assistance of the Port of Galveston, Seaside said it has aligned all stakeholders to ensure the proper infrastructure is in place to begin the LNG bunkering operation this winter.
Initially, the LNG supply will be trucked from inland locations and then loaded onto Seaside’s LNG barge.
Seaside and Carnival will continue to work together to provide direct access to a marine facility for the most efficient long-term supply solution, the firm said.
Houston-based small-scale LNG player Stabilis Solutions recently also secured a multi-year contract from Carnival to provide LNG fuel for the latter’s newest vessel Carnival Jubilee.
Under the deal, Stabilis will supply firm LNG deliveries on a ratable basis from its small liquefaction facility in Texas over the two-year contract, the firm said.
Stabilis did not reveal further details.
LNG Prime contacted Seaside to provide a comment on whether Stabilis would truck LNG from its facility in Texas to supply it to Clean Jacksonville, but we did not receive a reply by the time this article was published.