Not only the brand new barge Green Pearl nearing completion at the San Giorgio del Porto shipyard but also the innovative barge from Rimorchiatori Riuniti Panfido will be part of the naval fleet (on charter) with which the trading company Axpo will present itself to the Italian liquefied natural gas bunkering market.
The first client will be, as known, the ferry company Gnv which by the end of the year will take delivery of the third ro-pax ship under construction in China (Gnv Virgo), the first dual fuel Lng, and it will be precisely this newbuild that will mark the debut of liquefied natural gas refueling in the port of the Ligurian capital. In recent days, according to what was learned by SHIPPING ITALY, a technical meeting was held at the Port Authority in Genoa to finalize the last technical and authorization details in order to have all the paperwork in order from the point of view of permits and safety for Axpo’s bunkering.
Green Pearl is an Lng bunkering barge built in Turkey and completed under the Lanterna on behalf of the temporary business association between Gas and Heat S.p.A. and San Giorgio del Porto. At the Genoese shipyard, all activities for the ship’s completion, installation of the tanks and loading plants were carried out, which will be followed by commissioning and operational tests before delivery to the shipowner and consequently to the charterer for the start of operations. The ship, with a capacity of 7,500 cubic meters of Lng, represents the first European example of the application of a bunkering system that will allow it to provide both ship-to-ship and ship-to-truck services.
The barge from Rimorchiatori Riuniti Panfido built by Rosetti Marino in Ravenna, but then transferred to Marghera for completion (it was supposed to enter service during 2022 according to the original plans), was an integral part of Venice Lng, a project promoted by Decal which was supposed to create a liquefied natural gas depot in Marghera (instead, European funds were diverted to the construction of a new railway terminal).
At the Cantiere Navale Serenissima of the same RR Panfido, in collaboration with the Spanish engineering company Sener, the completion works were carried out and are expected to be finished in the autumn.This integrated system of tugboat and barge represent(ed) the first example of made in Italy equipment for naval Lng bunkering; the floating barge is equipped with tanks with a capacity of 4,000 cubic meters of gas and 1,276 marine diesel oil and will be towed by a tugboat with dual-fuel Lng diesel power that can operate autonomously.
Regarding its technical characteristics, the newbuild is composed, as stated, of a platform called ‘cargo unit’ 109 meters long and 26.7 wide, equipped with Lng tanks at a controlled temperature of -163 degrees and a tugboat called ‘power unit’ with a Bullard Pull of 75 tons that fits into the bow of the hull of the towed barge. The tank installed on the platform was built in China while the one on the tugboat in Turkey, the former has a constant draft of 3.7 meters while the latter of 6 meters. The project design was handled by the Spanish Sener, the plants on board the barge and the tanks were handled by the German Tge Marine, the tugboat’s propulsion system is by Voith, the main engine by the Japanese Niigata and the ‘coupling’ system between the two floating vessels was designed by the American Intercon.
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