Babcock Schulte Energy’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering vessel Kairos has set off on its voyage from South Korea’s Hyundai Mipo Dockyard to Europe.
Nauticor, the Hamburg-based company that owns 90 percent in the joint venture that will charter the 7,500 cubic meter vessel , said it is heading for its primary area of operation in Northwest Europe, and will be ready for operations before the end of 2018.
Mahinde Abeynaike , CEO of Nauticor, said, “the arrival of the “Kairos” in the Baltic Sea will set a milestone for LNG as a ship fuel. From then on, supply of LNG as a marine fuel in the Baltic Sea is secured on a large-scale basis.”
The remaining 10 percent in the joint venture is Lithuania’s Klaipedos Nafta. The company’s CEO added that the vessel will provide LNG reloading service in the Port of Klaipeda as well as the full LNG logistics chain in the Baltic Sea region.
The construction of the vessel started in 2016 when the joint venture signed a time-charter agreement with ship owner BSE. In February 2018, steel cutting took place at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in Ulsan, South Korea.
With a tank capacity of 7,500 cubic meters, Kairos is the world’s largest LNG bunker supply vessel, Nauticor said.