‘Wes Amelie’, the world’s first container ship equipped with an LNG engine, received LNG via a STS operation, on April 21, from the world’s largest LNG bunker supply vessel ‘Kairos’, in the anchorage area of Visby, Sweden.
This operation is considered as a milestone, as ‘Wes Amelie’ received LNG for the first time from a bunker supply vessel. It is also the first time that such an operation takes place in the Baltic Sea for a ship of that kind.
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Commenting on the occasion, Mahinde Abeynaike, CEO of Nauticor, said that the operation is a demonstration that LNG can be a fuel for all segments in the shipping industry and that the availability of the molecules is ensured in Northwest Europe.
‘Wes Amelie’ is the first ship of its kind to use LNG and it operates on a feeder route between Rotterdam and the Baltics.
In addition, Hans Staal, Head of Bunker Procurement of Unifeeder, believes that this development is an important step for ship-to-ship operations, as well as for ensuring a more efficient LNG distribution.
According to Christian Hoepfner, Managing Director of Wessels Marine, the container feeder segment is ideal for LNG, with ship-to-ship LNG bunkering being a key component. He also added that ‘Wes Amelie’ has showcased that the use of LNG provides important benefits for the environment along the feeder routes and increases advantages for the operators.
For this reason, Wessels Marine is working on several similar projects to advance the fleet of eco-friendly vessels converted to LNG.