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World’s largest LNG bunker vessel christened in Hamburg

Written by Nick Blenkey
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Kairos at the pier

The Kairos, the world’s largest LNG bunker supply vessel with a tank capacity of 7,500 cu.m, was officially christened in a ceremony held earlier today in Hamburg.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who succeeded Angela Merkel as leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in December and is widely known as AKK, served as godmother.

Built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, the ice-class Kairos is on charter from Babcock Schulte Energy to Blue LNG, a joint venture of Hamburg based LNG supplier Nauticor, with a 90% share, and Lithuanian energy infrastructure provider KN, with a 10% share.

“The christening of Kairos today here in Hamburg, is the result of several years of thorough preparation by Nauticor’s team and its partners,” said Mahinde Abeynaike, CEO of Nauticor. “With the commissioning of the world’s largest LNG bunker supply vessel, the availability of LNG as fuel for shipping on a large-scale basis is secured, e.g. in the Baltic Sea. With shipping companies having access to a fuel that is not only financially attractive, but also environmentally sustainable, people and nature in Northwest Europe will benefit from a substantial reduction of emissions at sea and in port.”

Among Kairos’s unique features are its ballast-free design and installation of a CNG tank to store vapor return gas from customer vessels.

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