Samsung cuts first steel for Teekay’s North Sea-bound shuttle tanker

South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries has begun construction of the first of four new shuttle tankers for Teekay Offshore. The dual-fuelled tankers will be used to offload and ship oil from the North Sea platforms.

The steel cutting ceremony for the first  E-Shuttle tanker newbuilding was held earlier this month at the SHI shipyard in Geoje, South Korea. Teekay has described its E-Shuttle tankers as “the most environmentally friendly shuttle tankers ever built. ”

The company, providing oil and gas shipping and production units to the oil and gas industry,  has promised that innovative shuttle tanker design will significantly 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 power distribution system is part of Wärtsilä’s Low Loss Hybrid (LLH) system, using batteries to leverage more fuel savings, peak load shaving and added overall system redundancy. The annual emission reduction potential is estimated at up to 42%, with fuel consumption reduced by up to 22% compared to traditional shuttle tankers.

The four vessels are expected to be delivered from the yard in from October 2019 through to 2020.

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