World’s largest LNG bunkering vessel enters service

DECEMBER 12, 2018 — The world’s largest LNG bunker supply vessel, the 7,500 cu.m Kairos, has started operations in Northwest Europe 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.

Built by South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Mipo Dockyard,  the ice-class Kairos is equipped with Babcock’s Fuel Gas Supply Vessel Zero (FGSV0) technology, a scalable cargo handling and fueling solution that eliminates the release of boil-off and flash gas to the atmosphere during normal operations.

Other state of the art features include a ballast-free design, easily deployable pneumatic fenders, high maneuverability due to azimuth thrusters and a compressed natural gas (CNG) system to store vapor return gas from customer vessels.

The vessel was handed over yesterday in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

“With the handover of Kairos, we are securing the supply of LNG as a marine fuel in the Baltic Sea on a large-scale basis,” said Mahinde Abeynaike, CEO of Nauticor. “Thanks to our large LNG storage tanks with a pump rate equivalent to more than 30 LNG trucks per hour and our innovative maneuvering technology, marine customers will be able to benefit from an extremely fast and safe LNG ship to ship supply. From now on, even large vessels can bunker LNG in the Baltic Sea.”