Jensen Maritime has secured a contract to design some of the first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) bunker barges in the U.S for LNG America LLC.
The Seattle-based arm of Crowley Maritime will design some of the first LNG bunker barges in the U.S for customer LNG America LLC, a Houston-based LNG fuel supply and distribution company.
There are currently no barges of this type in operation in American waterways.
The vessels are expected to have a carrying capacity of 3,000 cubic metres of LNG.
With an expected delivery date of late 2015, the vessels will be involved with moving and supplying LNG from LNG America’s Louisiana supply source to coastal-based storage and distribution terminals.
They will also be involved in directly bunkering to larger vessels and restocking LNG supplies.
Johan Sperling (right, upper), Jensen vice president celebrated the deal saying: “The significance of this agreement is not only incredible news for the marine industry, which struggles with whether to develop LNG infrastructure or vessels first, but also for companies along the US Gulf that hope to replace their traditional vessels with cleaner, more efficient LNG-powered ones,”.
“We are thrilled to be working with LNG America in the development of its marine infrastructure and also in providing a green fuel source to this important region.
“Jensen is on the leading edge when it comes to LNG vessel design and we look forward to serving LNG America and other customers with this valuable service.”
Keith Meyer (right, lower), CEO of LNG America said: “Through LNG America’s LNG bunkering initiative, we plan to serve and facilitate the growing marine demand for LNG
“LNG America sees the demand for marine LNG to be robust as long as LNG can be made available to the maritime industry on a reliable, dependable and cost-competitive basis.
“Our mission is to deliver competitively priced LNG as fuel where needed, when needed and in the quantity needed.”
Jensen first became involved with the design of LNG vessels in 2008. Since then they have developed designs for an LNG tugboat and are currently working on several other prototype designs of LNG bunker vessels, harbour tugs, ATBS, container ships and tankers along with inland vessels for a variety of customers in the US.
