Turkey’s RMK Marine has almost completed what it says is Europe’s largest inland waterway LNG bunkering barge. The shipbuilder built the barge for owners Victrol and Sogestran and charterer Shell.
RMK Marine said in a social media post on Wednesday that sea acceptance test of the 8,000-cbm vessel had started.
It did not provide further information.
RMK Marine is building the vessel for LNG Shipping, a joint venture of Belgium’s Victrol and French Sogestran.
The joint venture will own and operate this vessel, while UK-based LNG giant Shell will charter it for operations in the ports of Zeebrugge, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam.
RMK held a launching ceremony for the vessel on July 7, 2023.
The JV changed the vessel’s name as during the keel-laying ceremony in March 2023, the partners announced the vessel as LNG Erasmus.
They claim that this is Europe’s largest inland waterway LNG bunkering barge and the first to use battery technology and shore power, which will help reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
Italy’s Gas & Heat supplied the tanks and cargo handling system for the new vessel designed by the International Naval Engineering Consultants, while MAN delivered the dual-fuel engines.