Singapore’s FueLNG, a joint venture consisting of Keppel Offshore & Marine and Shell, is expecting to take delivery of its second bunkering vessel in the second quarter of 2023.
The LNG bunkering supplier said in a social media post that South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo launched the bunkering ship (Hull No. 8300), owned by Korea Line LNG, a unit of SM Group’s Korea Line, on November 16.
The Singapore-flagged bunker vessel with a carrying capacity of 18,000-cbm meters would be the largest LNG bunkering vessel in South East Asia, FueLNG claims.
It would have dual-fuel engines, two stern azimuth thrusters and one bow thruster, a sub-cooler, and a custom-designed bunker boom with vacuum insulated pipelines.
Following delivery in the second quarter of next year, the vessel owned by Korea Line LNG would start a long-term time charter with FueLNG, it said.
Korea Line LNG ordered this vessel in April last year at Hyundai Mipo for about $60 million saying it would go on a charter with an Asian LNG bunkering supplier.
The contract includes a firm period of five years with options to expand it to ten years in total, the Korean firm said.
This vessel will join Singapore’s first LNG bunkering ship FueLNG Bellina, owned by FueLNG.
The JV completed the first bunkering operation with this ship to a CMA CGM vessel in March last year.
In June this year, Shell signed a new deal with France’s CMA CGM to bunker the latter’s LNG-powered containerships.
Under the multi-year bunkering deal, Shell will deliver LNG to CMA CGM’s 13,000-teu vessels in the Port of Singapore, starting from the second half of 2023.
Both of these bunkering ships will deliver LNG under the deal.