Wallenius SOL’s LNG-powered vessel, Botnia Enabler, is nearing completion at China’s CIMC Raffles in Yantai.
CIMC Raffles launched the LNG-powered RoRo vessel in July last year and on February 14, 2022, the vessel completed its first out of two sea trials.
Sweden’s Wallenius SOL said in a statement on Monday that Botnia Enabler along with its sister vessel, Baltic Enabler, would undergo two sets of sea trials prior to their delivery later this year.
The first trials include operations on low-sulfur gas oil, and during the next sea trials, the ship would run on LNG, according to the firm.
Following the final trial, the shipyard would have a number of weeks to action any items before handover and the “long-awaited” maiden voyage back home to the waters of the Gulf of Bothnia, Wallenius SOL said.
The firm expects the delivery of the first vessel to take place in the first half of 2022.
To remind, the designer of the vessels, Knud E. Hansen, previously expected the delivery of Botnia Enabler to take place in mid-December of 2021.
According to Wallenius SOL, the two vessels are the world’s largest ice-rated dual-fuel RoRo ships.
Both ships have a length of 242 meters and a capacity of 5,800 lane meters.