A launching ceremony was recently held for Australia’s SeaRoad Shipping’s new roll-on roll-off LNG-powered vessel.
The ship named Searoad Mersey II was launched by Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) at its shipyard in Germany on June 3.
All of the ship’s principal engines are dual-fuel, burning LNG as the primary source of energy. In regular service Searoad Mersey II will use diesel for less than 1% of ship operations, according to SeaRoad Shipping.
Searoad Mersey II represents an investment of more than A$110 million and it will be the “ first coastal ship in Australia to use clean, green LNG fuel-and-power technology and the first pure dry cargo ship globally to use a roll-on roll-off LNG supply system, ” SeaRoad Shipping said.
The vessel has an overall length of 181.52 m, a width of 26.6 metres and will be able to carry a total of 125 trailers + 111 cars on 1.919 lane metres.
Searoad Mersey II will undergo several more months of completion work and trials before voyaging to Australia in late October.
It is expected to enter six-days-a-week overnight Bass Strait service between Devonport and Melbourne in December, SeaRoad Shipping said.