First US-Built LNG Bunkering Barge Delivered
Conrad Industries, a ship-builder in Orange, Texas, said August 20 it had delivered the Clean Jacksonville, the first LNG bunkering barge built in North America, to Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, at Florida’s Port of Jacksonville (JaxPort).
Gas trials were conducted mid-August by Harvey Gulf, a New Orleans-based LNG bunkering services provider, at its facilities in Port Fourchon, Florida.
Tote will use the Clean Jacksonville to bunker two Marlin class containerships fueled by LNG that it operates between JaxPort and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The barge, designed by GTT North America, has a single-tank capacity of 2,200 m3, and utilises GTT’s Mark III Flex cargo containment technology and its Reach4™ (Refueling Equipment Arm, Methane [CH4]) bunker mast design.
“Tote Maritime Puerto Rico is excited to utilise the Clean Jacksonville for our LNG bunkering,” Tote CEO Tim Nolan said. “Our partners, including Conrad Shipyard and GTT, have been critical in our development of North America’s first LNG bunker barge. The use of LNG as a maritime fuel results in tremendous environmental benefits – including air and water quality improvements - and this barge is the final critical component of our LNG program in Jacksonville.”
The Clean Jacksonville incorporates a number of “firsts” in the world of LNG bunkering: besides being the world’s first US-built LNG bunkering barge, it is the first time GTT’s membrane system has been installed in a non self-propelled barge in the US and is the first LNG bunker mast of its type – the Reach4™ – ever built.
(Schematic of Clean Jacksonville courtesy of Conrad Industries.)