First steel cut for largest US-built LNG bunkering barge

Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Wisconsin has cut the first steel to be used for the construction of the largest LNG bunkering barge ever built in the United States.

Crowley will operate the vessel under a long-term charter with Shell NA LNG. Completion of the barge is scheduled for late 2023.

The 416-foot (126-metre) vessel, which will have the capacity for 3.17 million gallons (12,000 cubic metres) of LNG, will be the largest Jones Act-compliant vessel of its kind, and the second Jones Act-compliant bunker barge Shell has under a time charter in the US.

The barge will be operated primarily on the US East Coast.