South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has launched Aurora Spirit, the first of four shuttle tankers it is building for Bermuda-based Teekay Offshore Partners.
Aurora Spirit was launched from SHI’s G3 floating dock in late March, less than two years after SHI and Teekay signed the two-unit contract in July 2017.
The ship is now set to receive the LNG tank, various VOC equipment and the BLS module before starting sea trials later this year.
Following the first contract from 2017, Teekay exercised further options bringing the total number of shuttle tankers on order to four.
Teekay said the new tanker design would reduce emissions and fuel consumption. The 130,000 dwt vessels will operate on both liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the primary fuel, and a mixture of LNG and recovered volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as secondary fuel.
The E-Shuttle has battery packs for flexible power distribution and blackout prevention. According to the company, it reduces bunkering requirement and CO2 emissions by approx. 50%’ instead of ‘annual emission reduction potential is estimated at up to 42%, with fuel consumption reduced by up to 22% compared to traditional shuttle tankers.
Upon delivery, the newbuilds will join Teekay Offshore’s Contract of Affreightment (CoA) fleet in the North Sea.