The world’s first large container ship to be converted to LNG has arrived at the Port of Hamburg, according to Hapag-Lloyd.
The 15,000 TEU Brussels Express has been converted to LNG, with the vessel to complete its first LNG bunkering at Singapore on the next round voyage.
This is the first large container ship to be converted to gas propulsion. The ship is not yet operating exclusively with LNG, as the final guarantee works will be performed at the end of this round voyage.
In September 2020 the ship went into the Huarun Dadong Dockyard in Shanghai. At the dockyard, a floating crane hoisted a 1,300-tonne LNG tank into the vessel.
Richard von Berlepsch, Managing Director Fleet Management at Hapag-Lloyd, “The fact that a retrofitting of this scale had never been done before meant that we faced numerous challenges – from the planning to the implementation. We have broken new ground with the conversion, and we will now be testing it very precisely in real-world operation.
“Fossil LNG is currently the most promising fuel on the path towards zero emissions. The medium-term goal is to have CO2-neutral shipping operations using synthetic natural gas (SNG).”
In the future, the vessel, which is currently operating in the Far East 4 service between Asia and North Europe, will bunker twice per round voyage: in Singapore and in Rotterdam.
