Petroleum and chemical tanker owner and operator AET has named its first two LNG dual-fuel Aframax tankers.
The 113,000 dwt vessels, Eagle Brasilia and Eagle Bintulu, were inaugurated today at a ceremony held at the Samsung Heavy Industry (SHI) shipyard in Geoje, South Korea.
Both vessels have been taken on long-term charter by Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (Shell), primarily for operations in the Atlantic Basin, and will begin operating for the company from Q4 2018.
Being in compliance with NOx Tier III emission when operating in gas mode, the vessels are equipped with conventional single screw propulsion with two-stroke main engine, three auxiliary engines and two auxiliary boilers, all equipped for LNG dual fuel capability.
LNG fuel is supplied through two type-C tanks of 850 cubic meters each arranged on the main deck aft port and starboard. Each LNG tank is equipped with two LNG feed pumps which provide full redundancy for operation.
The vessels are designed to receive LNG fuel from LNG bunkering vessels — via ship-to-ship transfer. The vessels will be able to trade with LNG fuel for approximately 6,000 nautical miles.
“AET has worked for many years in close cooperation with industry partners to develop these LNG dual-fuelled Aframaxes, which are amongst the very first in the industry (…) Eagle Brasilia and Eagle Bintulu are proof that as an industry, we needn’t see increasing environmental requirements as a threat to how we operate, but rather as an incentive to develop new, more innovative and sustainable shipping solutions,” Yee Yang Chien, AET Chairman, and President/Group CEO of parent company MISC Berhad, commented.
Both vessels have been awarded the “Green Passport” and “GFS” notations and have been fitted with an IMO-compliant ballast water management system.
“Shell has been an advocate of LNG as a marine fuel for many years, and as an organisation, we have invested considerably in supporting the development of a comprehensive and reliable LNG bunkering infrastructure. We share AET’s commitment to exceeding the IMO’s 0.5% sulphur emissions requirements wherever possible, and we are very pleased to take these vessels on charter to serve our global energy shipping requirements,” Lars Wogen, Global Crude Freight Trading Manager, Shell commented.
“We welcome these vessels as the first in what will be an expanding fleet of LNG dual fuelled vessels in the years to come, as part of our group’s Green Sustainability Agenda. This seeks to deliver environmental efficiency alongside operational excellence. This is a point of critical importance, as ensuring that these LNG dual-fuelled Aframaxes are designed to operate with optimum efficiency, the highest standards of safety and compliance has been and remains top priority for us,” Captain Rajalingam Subramaniam, President & CEO of AET, said.
Featuring a length of 244 meters and a width of 43 meters, each of the two tanker newbuilds has a market value of USD 44.14 million, VesselsValue’s data shows.