Eagle LNG and Crowley in Jacksonville bunkering milestone

Eagle LNG and Crowley recently marked the 100th bunkering event of liquefied natural gas to the latter’s ConRo ships from the Talleyrand facility located at the Port of Jacksonville.

The two Crowley’s LNG-powered ConRo ships Taino and El Coqui are working on the Jacksonville, Florida to Puerto Rico route.

Thw first vessels started working on the route in 2018 followed by the second in January last year.

The ships, built specifically for the Puerto Rico trade, are 219.5 meters long with 26,500 deadweight tons.

Eagle LNG, owned by private US investment firm the Energy & Minerals Group, said Monday it managed to deliver on its weekly LNG bunkering commitment to the ships regardless of Covid-19 constraints.

“Since March, our operations staff have continued working with Crowley’s ship management teams to maintain safe bunkering of their ships, Taino and El Coqui, while adhering to public health guidelines,” Sean Lalani, president of Eagle LNG said.

Eagle LNG Talleyrand has delivered over 30 million gallons or almost 50,000 metric tons over the last 100 bunkering activities to these ships.

The facility is the first of its kind in North America to provide shoreside storage and bunkering equipment to deliver LNG for the ConRo ships which provide ocean transportation of dry, refrigerated and vehicle cargoes under the Jones Act.

The Talleyrand facility gets fuel from Eagle LNG’s Maxville plant located west of downtown Jacksonville.

The Maxville plant offers 1 million LNG-gallons of storage for daily transfers by truck to Talleyrand assuring Crowley’s weekly fuel supply.

Eagle LNG is also supplying the fuel to ISO tank containers for distribution into the Caribbean for power and industrial users.

Furthermore, the company is moving forward on a new larger, on-water liquefaction plant and terminal in Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville LNG export facility will be capable of producing some 1 mtpa with 45,000 cbm or almost 12 million gallons of storage.

“With an additional investment of about $500 million to build the new export facility plus other planned expansions across the U.S. and in the Caribbean basin, Eagle LNG is committed to meeting the demand for small-scale LNG in the region plus the ever increasing domestic need for fuel-grade LNG,” said Lalani.

Eagle LNG and Crowley partnered with the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) that began exploring LNG bunkering for the U.S. East Coast more than a decade ago.

To ensure safe operations the partners also teamed up with the US Coast Guard in Jacksonville and the Fire and Rescue Department.

“With more than a billion dollars in LNG investments in the Northeast Florida region, JAXPORT partners are pioneers in the use of LNG as a clean fuel and a cargo type,” JAXPORT CEO Eric Green said.

He added that as the use of LNG expands globally, “our community continues to benefit from the environmental advantages, new business, jobs and other opportunities that come with being a leader in the clean fuel revolution.”