CIMC SOE, Sogestran ink LoI for LNG bunkering vessel

CIMC SOE said in a statement on Saturday that the LoI was signed during the first day of the Posidonia event in Greece.

Under the LoI, the two firms will collaborate on the construction of a 6,000-cbm LNG bunkering vessel, CIMC SOE said without providing further details.

Sogestran already operates LNG bunkering vessels as part of its joint venture with Belgium’s Victrol.

These include Shell-chartered inland bunkering vessel LNG London, which has a caapcity of 3,000 cbm, and the Shell-chartered LNG bunkering barge Energy Stockholm, with a capacity of 8,000 cbm.

On the other hand, to date, CIMC SOE has secured a total of 10 orders for 20,000-cbm LNG bunkering vessels and three orders for 18,900-cbm bunkering vessels, which feature type C LNG tanks, the shipbuilder said in March this year.

The owners of the bunkering vessels include Belgium’s Somtrans, Singapore’s Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services, China’s Fuzhou Wuyang Refined Oil Trading, Switzerland -based Vitol, and UK-based Avenir LNG.

In March, LNG Prime reported, citing shipbuilding sources, that a joint venture of France’s CMA CGM and Greece’s Capital has signed a letter of intent with Chinese CIMC SOE for up to two LNG bunkering vessels which will go on charter to TotalEnergies.