Asian shipping hub Hong Kong and UK channel port Portsmouth have hosted their first LNG bunkering operations as the number of locations offering the fuel grows globally.
In Hong Kong, the 8,500-cbm LNG bunker vessel Xin Ao Pu Tuo Hao (built 2022) supplied volumes to the Zim-owned 8,200-teu LNG dual fuel container ship Zim Amber (built 2023).
This bunkering operation was carried out at South Cheung Chau Anchorage in Hong Kong.
No details have emerged about the amount of LNG transferred but those following the operation said about 5,000-cbm of LNG can be expected to be bunkered here.
The container ship is owned and managed by Seaspan and chartered to Zim, which also supplies LNG to this vessel and its sisters in China and the US-Caribbean region.
Seaspan is due to take delivery of the 15th and the last ship of this series from Yangzijiang Shipyard this month and has another 10, 15,000 teu LNG dual-fuel ships, also chartered to Zim building at Samsung Heavy Industries.
In the UK the 6,000-cbm LNGBV Optimus (built 2021), which is operated by Dutch fuel supplier Titan, delivered LNG for the first time to Brittany Ferries new 1,310-passenger, LNG hybrid-electric ferry Saint-Malo (built 2024).
This marked the first LNG bunkering operation for Portsmouth, located on the UK’s south coast.
According to classification society DNV at the end of 2024 there were 641 LNG-fuelled ships in operation.
The number is expected to double by the end of the decade as on-order dual-fuel vessels deliver.
But in their annual figures for 2024, both DNV and Clarksons Research identify a gap in LNG infrastructure, particularly on the LNGBVs needed to meet anticipated demand for the fuel.
