Altera names LNG-powered shuttle tanker trio

South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries held a naming ceremony for three LNG-powered shuttle tankers being built for Altera Infrastructure, previously known as Teekay Offshore.

The vessels in question are the 130,000 dwt Current Spirit, and the 103,000 dwt Altera Wave and Altera Wind.

Due to Covid-19, the duo held a remote ship naming ceremony, digitally connecting Samsung and Altera.

Brookfield Business Partners-controlled Altera expects to take delivery of these vessels between this month and January 2021.

The E-Shuttle tankers will operate on both LNG as the primary fuel, and a mixture of chilled fuel and recovered volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as secondary fuel.

The vessels also feature battery packs for flexible power distribution and blackout prevention.

Samsung delivered earlier this year to Altera the third LNG-powered Suezmax DP2 shuttle tanker of this type, the Tide Spirit. This vessel will start serving Norway’s Equinor in October this year.

The two other shuttle tanker newbuildings for Equinor, the Aurora Spirit and Rainbow Spirit, already started operations in the North Sea earlier this year.