VT Halter Marine, Q-LNG conduct naming ceremony for new bunkering barge

ST Engineering North America’s VT Halter Marine and Q-LNG Transport have conducted a naming ceremony for the first offshore LNG articulated tug and barge (ATB) unit to be built in the United States.

The barge Q-LNG 4000 and the tug Q-Ocean Services were officially named in a ceremony at VT Halter Marine’s shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, on Monday, September 30.

The ATB unit is designed to provide ship-to-ship transfers of LNG to vessels that use LNG as a fuel source and also ship-to-shore transfers to small scale marine distribution infrastructure in the US Gulf of Mexico and abroad.

The ATB tug will have 5,100 hp (3,803kW) GE 6L250 MDC EPA Tier IV main engines and measure 128 by 42 feet (39 by 12 metres). The barge will be able to carry 4,000 cubic metres of LNG and will measure 324 by 64 feet (98 by 19 metres).

Delivery is expected in the first quarter of 2020.