China’s state-owned energy giant CNOOC has joined forces with France’s CMA CGM to complete the first LNG bunkering operation at the Meishan terminal in the Ningbo-Zhoushan port.
According to a statement by CNOOC Gas & Power, a unit of CNOOC, the world’s largest LNG bunkering vessel, Hai Yang Shi You 301, delivered about 9,400 cbm of liquefied natural gas to the LNG-powered containership, CMA CGM Unity, during the operation on Wednesday.
CMA CGM charters this 15,200-teu LNG dual-fuel vessel from Eastern Pacific Shipping.
This is the first bonded LNG bunkering operation in the Zhejiang province and the first LNG bunkering operation for CNOOC in the Yangtze River Delta region, CNOOC Gas & Power said.
Prior to the bunkering operation, the 30,000-cbm Hai Yang Shi You 301 loaded LNG at CNOOC’s Ningbo LNG import facility in Zhejiang.
With this, the Zhejiang terminal became the first facility in Zhejiang province to provide LNG for LNG bunkering vessels, CNOOC Gas & Power said.
This follows jetty upgrade works at the facility to allow smaller vessels to be able to load LNG from the terminal’s tanks.
In November last year, CSSC’s Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) converted this 184.7 meters long LNG carrier with Wartsila DF engines and TGE Marine type C tanks to enable it to perform ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operations.
The converted vessel now has a capacity to deliver up to 1650 cbm of LNG per hour during an STS operation.
The LNG bunkering vessel completed its first bunkering operation in the Yantian port in Shenzhen on January 18.
It delivered about 6,000 cbm of LNG to the 23,000-teu CMA CGM Concorde during the operation.