A 31-year-old steam turbine-driven ship is set to make history by becoming the first LNG carrier to be flagged into the US fleet.
Kpler data shows the 130,405-cbm Intan (ex-Puteri Intan, built 1994) is scheduled to arrive at Sabine Pass on 27 January.
Those familiar with the vessel have indicated that the membrane-type ship will be used to lift US-produced cargoes to Puerto Rico.
A US Coast Guard inspection is expected as part of the reflagging process and talk has circulated that the ship will be renamed the American Energy.
Those following the Intan cite a Jones Act exemption in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1996 for foreign-built vessels constructed before that year that allows these ships to transport LNG or LPG to Puerto Rico from other US ports.
The Intan was built at France’s Chantier de l’Atlantique.
The Jones Act requires that maritime transport of cargo between points in the US be carried by vessels owned by US citizens and registered under the US flag and built in the country.
Crowley has already confirmed to TradeWinds that it has bought a 130,400-cbm LNG tanker which it said is “part of our ongoing strategic investment to advance energy solutions in the Americas”.
But the company has not yet disclosed how the vessel will be deployed.
The Equasis database shows Crowley LNG became the registered owner of the Intan in December.
But the company’s planned use for the ship may explain why it is thought to have bought such an elderly vessel.
The US did build a series of 16 LNG carriers during the 1970s through to 1980 at three domestic shipyards — General Dynamics, Newport News and Avondale — with each yard using different tank designs.
Some of these went for international trading and were reflagged out of the US fleet. Eight in the so-called “zodiac fleet” of Burmah Gas Transport lifted cargoes between Indonesia and Japan during their early years.
There was talk that three of these vessels — two of which are owned by South Korea’s Sinokor Maritime and one that has since been demolished — could be reflagged back in, but this has not occurred.
