Finnish company Containerships became the first container shipping line in Europe to perform ship-to-ship LNG bunkering, on 24 January, when its first LNG-fueled container ship, ‘Containerships Nord’, successfully underwent her first LNG bunkering at the Port of Rotterdam.
Around 240 metric tons of LNG was bunkered to the vessel, an amount that can take her on a roundtrip from Rotterdam to St. Petersburg and back sailing through the Kiel canal twice.
The first bunkering was carried out at lay bay berth in a ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation from Shell’s Bunker Vessel, the Cardissa. In future, the bunkering will be carried out at a normal operational berth simultaneously with loading and discharging operations.
Under an agreement, Shell will supply the LNG for Containerships’ LNG vessels via STS bunkering at the Port of Rotterdam. All the newbuilds will be bunkered by Shell bunker vessels, including the Cardissa.
M/S Containerships Nord started sailing from China towards Europe in Mid-December and reached the European waters after passing the Suez Canal after two and half weeks sailing. The three sister vessels will follow the same route after their delivery later this year.
These vessels have endurance of 14 days with LNG, and they will be bunkered once per roundtrip during their regular service loop between Containerships’ core ports in the North and Baltic Seas.
The company was acquired in October by French shipping giant CMA CGM, following authorization by the European Commission.
