Rotterdam bunkers its first LNG fueled ship

Ternsund arrives in Rotterdam

AUGUST 9, 2016 — The 15,000 dwt LNG-fueled chemical tanker Ternsund is racking up a couple of more firsts. It is currently bunkering with LNG in Rotterdam, making it the first sea-going vessel to do so in the port.

Ternsund has also become the first ship to receive a Port of Rotterdam  LNG bunkering incentive, a premium amounting to a discount of ten percent on the seaport dues.

Ternsund was built by AVIC International Ship Development (China) Co., Ltd. (AVIC SHIP), Shanghai, China and completedby AVIC Dingheng Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, Jiangdu, China for Terntank Rederi A/S, based in Skagen, Denmark.

It is the first vessel to be powered dual-fuel two-stroke engine using the low-pressure X-DF gas admission technology developed by Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD) (see earlier story).

The 5-cylinder, 500 mm bore, Wärtsilä RT-flex50DF  is installed as the main engine driving a single propeller.

Tersund arrived in Rotterdam Sunday to unload naphtha and gas oil at the Vopak terminal in Botlek.

Yesterday afternoon, the ship was shifted to the former ECT home terminal in Rotterdam’s Willem Alexanderhaven for bunkering. The process began by cooling down the temperature of the fuel tank  from ambient to operating temperature. Using nitrogen, the temperature was reduced from +20 °C to -162 °C in eighteen hours.

Then the actual bunkering of Shell-supplied LNG by trucks began. The bunkering of the cleaner fuel is scheduled be completed tomorrw. The vessel will then continue to Gothenburg.

Next year, the Port Authority will welcome a new bunker vessel which Shell will use to supply sea-going vessels with LNG.

Cooling the fuel tanks with truck-supplied liquid nitrogen