Swedish shipping company Erik Thun A.B. has granted Shipyard Ferus Smit the order for building an LNG powered cargo vessel, with 2 more units on option. The first vessel will be delivered in autumn 2015 from the yard in Westerbroek, Groningen.
The Thun shipping company has a strong market position in Northern Europe and the Baltic area. To further strengthen her position as ‘green’ fleet with the new SECA rules coming into force in 2015 for the Baltic, Thun believes LNG will be the way forward.
“ For Ferus Smit shipyards it is a great challenge to build the first LNG powered short-sea dry cargo vessels to date. Many concepts and studies have been above the market already, but it will be down to the long-term cooperation between yard and ship owner to work out viable solutions that can be profitable in daily use ,” the company said in a statement.
The ships will be bulk oriented general cargo vessels sizing 5800 DWT, with the option to convert them into self-unloaders. They will be of iceclass 1A and suitable for year-round Baltic service. The vessels will be equipped with a Wartsila Dual fuel main engine and a pressurized LNG tank enabling round trips of abt. 2 weeks. Classification will be done by Lloyds Register.
[mappress] Press Release, February 17, 2014; Image: Ferus Smit