Belgian shipping firm Somtrans will soon put in use the first of two LNG-powered inland barges which will work along the Rhine.
Dutch shipbuilder and shipbroker RensenDriessen said in a statement the 14,000-cbm inland chemical tanker Swiss LNG 1 has completed its sea trials.
The yard is building two inland vessels for Somtrans, Swiss LNG 1 and Swiss LNG 2.
Both of the LR-classed vessels feature dual-fuel propulsion from Finland’s Wartsila and 70 cbm LNG tanks supplied by Dutch cryogenic tech firm Cryonorm.
The tankers would be able to sail at “extremely low” water levels and they would “work on the Rhine, towards the German hinterland,” RensenDriessen previously said.
Their trading route will include the Dutch port of Rotterdam and Basel in Switzerland.
To remind, RensenDriessen also worked, along with TeamCo Shipyard, on the first LNG-powered inland vessel for the Belgian shipowner, named Somtrans LNG.
This vessel started serving Somtrans in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) region in 2019.