Shell bunkers Sovcomflot’s LNG-fueled Aframax tanker

The Hague-based Shell bunkered Sovcomflot’s LNG-fueled newbuild Aframax tanker, the Gagarin Prospect at the Port of Rotterdam.

It was also the first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering to take place in the Port of Rotterdam, and was completed by Shell’s LNG bunkering vessel, the Cardissa.

The fuelling of the Gagarin Prospect with LNG is the first operation under the LNG fuel supply agreement between Shell and Sovcomflot signed in 2017.

Speaking of the bunkering operation, Sergey Frank, president and CEO of Sovcomflot, said the operation marks “the introduction into service of the world’s first Aframax tanker to use LNG as her primary fuel.” 

Frank added that the vessel’s arrival marks the start of operation in the high traffic areas of the Baltic and North Seas, where this new class of Aframaxes will operate.