Kairos, the world’s largest bunker supply vessel (BSV) for liquefied natural gas (LNG), received the first license to conduct LNG ship-to-ship bunkering operations in the port of Rostock earlier in December.
Jens Scharner, Managing Director of Rostock Port, commented that
By granting the permit for the first LNG bunker supply vessel in the port of Rostock, the authorities involved have shown again that we have the right framework in place to support those shipowners that take the next step towards more sustainable shipping.
Nauticos informed that the long-term permit was issued by the port authority of Rostock and is valid for the next years.
Richard Schröder, Director Finance & Operations at Nauticor, pointed out the importance of this milestone, saying that
moving from LNG supply by truck to a ship-to-ship supply solution is the natural next step for the development of Nauticor’s LNG supply business in Rostock.
The Director added that the process to receive the permit was effective and smooth, due to the extensive track record in providing the chilled fuel to shipowners not only in Rostock, but in Northwest Europe in general, and also thanks to the “experienced and well-prepared people in charge within the responsible authorities in Rostock.”
It is said that the permit to conduct ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operations in the largest German Baltic Sea port will be the basis for the supply of LNG to a variety of customers. Preparations for the supply of LNG to their vessels are already ongoing and the first operations will be conducted within the next few weeks.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
It is further noted that Nauticor has been supplying LNG to marine customers in the port of Rostock since 2017. It was then that the product tanker Fure West, owned and operated by the Swedish shipping company Furetank, received LNG from several trucks, becoming the first vessel of its kind to bunker LNG in Germany in general.
In May, the Lithuanian LNG operator Klaipėdos Nafta (KN) and the German shipping company Nauticor agreed on the sale of KN’s 10% stake in the charter contract of Kairos, the world’s largest LNG bunkering vessel to Nauticor. As a consequence of this transaction, Nauticor became sole charterer of Kairos.
World’s largest LNG bunker supply vessel Kairos started operations in December 2018. The vessel is owned by Babcock Schulte Energy and chartered by Blue LNG, a joint venture between Nauticor (90%) and KN (10%).
The joint venture partners decided to sell transfer KN’s share in Blue LNG to Nauticor, becoming effective as of September 30th, 2019.
In the Port of Klaipėda, the 117-meter-long vessel, which can carry up to 7.5 thousand m3 of LNG in its two tanks, is used for reloading of LNG from Klaipėda terminal to the LNG Reloading Station situated next to the gates of the port of Klaipėda.
More recently, in October, Hamburg-based Nauticor, conducted its first ever ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation at the Elbehafen Brunsbüttel, part of Brunsbüttel Ports, the first at a German port. The vessel bunkered LNG to DEME’s TSHD Scheldt River delivering a total of 300 cubic meters of the chilled fuel.
