Dutch firm Titan LNG said it has launched a development tender for a new LNG bunkering barge which it plans to deploy in Belgium’s Port of Zeebrugge in 2023.
Besides fulfilling part of the base demand in Zeebrugge that Titan is already supplying, the vessel Titan Krios would also serve the English Channel ports, the Amsterdam-based firm said in a statement on Monday.
The new barge would operate with multiple tanks to “segregate streams of LNG and bio-LNG, the sustainable carbon-neutral fuel produced from biological waste,” Titan said.
“As it can be stored and supplied using existing infrastructure, blended with LNG, and dropped into existing engine technology, bio-LNG presents a financially sound long-term investment for many operators and owners looking to decarbonise operations, and comply with emission reductions regulations,” the LNG supplier said.
Moreover, the seagoing LNG bunker vessel will have a capacity of 4,200 cbm, “low air draught, high maneuverability, and small footprint.”
The vessel will also feature cargo conditioning equipment and two bow trusters for “easy” manouvering. Germany’s HB Hunte engineering designed the vessel.
Titan’s LNG bunkering fleet continues to rise
The development tender comes just one month after the launch of FlexFueler002, a bunkering barge jointly owned by Titan and Belgium’s Fluxys. This vessel also works in Zeebrugge.
FlexFueler 002 is the second barge for Titan and identical to FlexFueler 001, which works in the Netherlands and the region.
Titan’s fleet of bunkering vessels also includes the chartered Green Zeebrugge and the planned 8,000-cbm vessel Hyperion.
“As demand for LNG, and increasingly bio-LNG, accelerates, ensuring the right infrastructure and supply is in place for our customers is essential,” Michael Schaap, Titan’s commercial director marine, said.
“LNG is the only fuel choice available today which offers immediate and long-term benefits to reducing GHG emissions, and a clear pathway to achieving decarbonisation targets,” he said.
With the new bunkering vessel joining the company’s expanding fleet, Titan would continue its efforts to enable a “more sustainable future for shipping through global accessibility to LNG, bio-LNG and eventually clean LNG produced from green hydrogen,” Schaap said.
