Lng Atb Unit News

Bunkering ports around the world have long used a variety of small tankers or tug and barge combinations to deliver fuel to visiting ships. Mostly this was heavy oil, but recently a new breed of bunkering vessels is emerging to deliver clean burning liquefied natural gas (LNG) to modern ships with dual-fuel capabilities.The fall of 2020 will see a new addition to this fleet servicing ships in Florida and the Caribbean. As an articulated tug barge (ATB) combination, the vessel will have a cargo capacity of 4,000 cubic meters of LNG.

VT Halter Marine, Inc., a ST Engineering North America company, held a vessel naming ceremony for America’s first offshore Liquefied Natural Gas Articulated Tug and Barge (LNG ATB) unit.The Q-LNG 4000 (barge) and the Q-Ocean Services (tug) were officially named in a ceremony that included U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, along with Shane Guidry, CEO of Q-LNG, and Tom Vecchiolla, President and CEO of ST Engineering North America.Over the last four years…

VT Halter Marine and Q-LNG Transport team members during start of construction of ATB Tug Q-Ocean Service and Barge Q-LNG 4000. VT Halter Marine, Inc. (VT Halter Marine), a company of Vision Technologies Systems, Inc. (VT Systems), today held a ceremony to commence construction on America’s first Liquefied Natural Gas Articulated Tug and Barge (LNG ATB) unit. “We are honored to be able to celebrate the official start of construction on the first LNG Bunkering ATB unit ever built. We believe that this is a significant step towards the USA becoming the premier supplier of LNG as the environmentally friendly maritime fuel source of choice,” said Rob Mullins, Chief Executive Officer of VT Halter Marine.

As  the move toward LNG as marine fuel moves foward in earnest, Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) announced that its US shipyard, VT Halter Marine won the contract by Quality Liquefied Natural Gas Transport, LLC (Q-LNG) to build America’s first offshore Liquefied Natural Gas Articulated Tug and Barge (LNG ATB) unit. Q-LNG contracted VT Halter Marine for engineering services to complete the detailed design for the development and construction of one LNG Bunkering ATB unit. The ATB Tug will have 5,100 hp GE 6L250 MDC EPA Tier 4 main engines, with Z-drives, and dimensions of 128 x 42 x 21-ft.. The barge is designed to carry 4,000 cu. m. of LNG, and will have dimensions of 324 x 64 x 32.5 ft.