Shell-chartered Progress wraps up first LNG bunkering operation

Progress, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker barge chartered by energy major Shell, has completed its first bunkering operation with containership Zim Mount Vinson, owned by Israeli international cargo shipping company ZIM.

Designed by Crowley’s engineering services group, the 126-meter-long barge Progress has a capacity of 12,000 cbm (3.17 million gallons). The barge, which was recently handed over to the company, features a transformative design to “enable efficient and dependable” supply of LNG to fuel ships.

As informed, the vessel had simultaneous cargo operations in the Port of Savannah with 15,000 TEU Zim Mount Vinson. Last week, a second bunkering with the CMA CGM Symi was successfully and safely completed as well.

“The co-operation and trust from ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, CMA CGM and other stakeholders in the Port of Savannah was instrumental in making these bunkering operations successful. We look forward to enabling many others who have also invested in LNG dual-fuel fleets, to achieve their decarbonisation goals today and into the future,” Shell Marine noted in a social media post.

Progress, dubbed the largest Jones Act LNG bunker barge, features a transformative design to “enable efficient and dependable” supply of LNG to fuel ships.

Meanwhile, the Elba LNG liquefaction plant that produced the LNG for these operations also serves as “a key LNG supply hub” for many of Shell’s U.S. bunkering locations.

Connected to the U.S. gas grid and several bio-methane plants, the ISCC-certified Elba plant is well-positioned to enable bio-LNG bunkering and help our customers meet their carbon intensity reduction requirements, the company highlighted.

To remind, ZIM held a naming ceremony for Zim Mount Vinson in February this year. The christening ceremony of Zim Mount Elbrus and Zim Mount Vinson, the final additions to the series of ten 15,000 TEUs LNG-powred vessels, took place at the Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje shipyard in South Korea. 

The fourth and the fifth vessel, ZIM Mount Denali and ZIM Mount Rainier, were named in June last year.

On the basis that LNG emits ~20% less GHG emissions when compared to conventional marine fuels, using LNG on these ten ships is equivalent to having two out of the ten vessels in the fleet with zero emissions, ZIM highlighted.