Italian shipping group Fratelli Cosulich is looking to order another LNG bunkering vessel at China’s Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering.
The family-owned firm said earlier this year it had placed an order for one 5,300-dwt dual-fuel vessel.
Besides the capacity to ship over 8,000 cbm of LNG, the vessel will also transport 500 cbm of MGO for bunkering, according to Fratelli Cosulich.
It appears that the firm would add at least one bunkering newbuild to its fleet besides this one, as it looks to cater to a rising fleet of LNG-powered vessels around the globe.
Shipbuilding sources tell LNG Prime that Fratelli Cosulich should exercise an option for the second sister ship at CIMC SOE by the end of this year.
Also, the Italian firm has plans for a third ship as well, the sources said.
Fratelli Cosulich aims to deploy the first LNG bunkering vessel in the Mediterranean Sea while Fratelli Cosulich LNG, a unit of the firm, will manage this vessel.
Finland’s Wartsila secured a contract to supply a complete cargo handling system for the new LNG bunkering vessel which should start commercial operations in 2023.
Fratelli Cosulich will pay about $45 million for the LNG bunkering vessel, but it previously said it could receive a grant of about $5.2 million from the European Union under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program.