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The 138,000m3 Inigo Tapias floated into the spotlight in January, becoming the first large LNG ship launched at a European shipyard since a series was delivered by Finland’s Kvaerner Masa-Yards some five years ago. The launching is also a significant milestone for Izar, the Spanish shipbuilding group formed by the merger of E.N. Bazan and Astilleros Espanoles S.A. The Inigo Tapias is being built by Izar’s Sestao Shipyard at Bilbao, Spain, and will be delivered August 2003 to Naviera Tapias and chartered by state-owned Repsol. It will be followed by four more sister ships from Izar’s Sestao and Puerto Real yards Isle of Man-based Dorchester Maritime, part of the family-owned Schulte Group, has been involved in the Repsol LNG project since its inception. Originally Repsol tendered some 10 shipowning parties, all Spanish, for the operation of the vessels. Dorchester Maritime entered a joint venture with Naviera Tapias, who eventually won the contract to build and own the vessels. One of the major factors in this award was Dorchester Maritime’s past experience with LNG vessels, which includes the crew management and training and steam plant superintendency for the fleet of five large BP Shipping-owned LNG carriers. There is an option for Dorchester Maritime to take a share in the ownership of the Spanish vessels at some later stage. For the one vessel building in Sestao and the two in South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Koje Island, Dorchester Maritime has prepared specifications for the cargo containment system, pumping arrangements, steam turbine power plant and has handled plan approval for the cryogenic system and the ship’s electrical system. One newbuilding superintendent has been in attendance in Sestao and two in Daewoo. Part of the joint venture is also the training of Spanish officers for the ships, this has been carried out using the training facilities onboard the 26,800 dwt LNG/LPG carrier Annabella, which is managed by Hanseatic Shipmanagement, Cyprus, a sister company to Dorchester Maritime. Dorchester Maritime is also involved, in partnership with Wärtsilä NSD and ABS, in China’s Guangdong project, which comprises two 140,000 m3 LNG vessels. The project is currently in the bidding process, the favored shipyards being Hudong Shipyard and Jiangnan Shipyard (both located in Shanghai), both of which would use the Gaz Transport Technigaz (GTT) system, and New Dalian Shipyard, which favors the Moss Rosenburg (spherical) containment system. When this project goes ahead it will involve the first LNG vessels to be built in mainland China. Dorchester Maritime has already been involved in the building of ethylene carriers in Jiangnan Shipyard. |
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IZAR BRINGS EUROPE BACK INTO LNG SHIP CONSTRUCTION