Keppel hands over Russia’s first LNG bunkering vessel

Singapore’s conglomerate Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) has delivered Russia’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering vessel to Shturman Koshelev LLC.

The 5,800 cbm LNG bunkering vessel (LBV) Dmitry Mendeleev was built at Keppel’s Nantong Shipyard in China.

Measuring 100 meters in length and 19 meters in width, the ship is equipped with an integrated digital system that allows it to be managed by just one person from the navigation bridge.

Its Arc4 ice-class reinforced hull means it can navigate one-year-old ice of up to 80 cm thick independently.

On the other hand, its integrated digital system means it can be controlled by just one crew member, directly from the navigation bridge.

This new vessel will provide transportation and bunkering of low-tonnage LNG fuel at ports in the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea including St Petersburg, Ust-Luga and Primorsk.

“LNG is an important part of the clean energy transition and increasingly adopted as a marine fuel. By combining our expertise in LNG and in building ice-class vessels, we are able to provide reliable and more sustainable solutions for the Arctic region,” Tan Leong Peng, Managing Director (New Builds), Keppel O&M, said.

The 12th ice-class vessel was developed by the Keppel Group’s ship design and development arm, Keppel Marine & Deepwater Technology (KMDTech).

The unit, which was launched in December last year, will begin sea trials during 2021.