An LNG bunker tank has been lifted into a Hapag-Lloyd containership in what is the world’s first retrofit of large boxship to allow the vessel to run on natural gas.
The 6,700-cbm, membrane-type bunker tank was lifted onto the 15,000-teu Sajir (built 2014) at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group)-controlled Huarun Dadong Dockyard in Shanghai.
A floating crane lifting the 1,500-tonne huge exoskeleton built inside a single hull.
The tank, which was designed by French cargo containment system designer GTT, is positioned in front of the ship's engine-room. It will now be welded into the hull and connected up to ship’s systems before sea and gas trials are carried out.
A bunker station will be installed on top of the tank in a 40-foot container.
The vessel's propulsion system is being upgraded to a MAN Energy Solutions' ME-GI engine.
The containership is due to be redelivered and return to operation in January.
Pioneering pilot
The retrofit job on the Sajir is a pioneering move both for Hapag-Lloyd and the rest of the industry.
The six-year-old vessel was built by United Arab Shipping Co (UASC) as one of 17 LNG-ready containerships. The series was designed so that LNG bunker tanks and associated pipework could be retrofitted to allow them to use gas as a fuel. Hapag-Lloyd acquired the ship when it bought UASC in 2017.
Aside from an engine retrofit for a Qatari LNG carrier, the Sajir will be the first large deepsea trading vessel to undergo a switch to LNG fuelling.
But the pilot boxship fuelling retrofit job, which has been priced at around $30m, is also a large and complex project.
There is interest in the industry on the time required to undertake the job, the final cost of the work and whether Hapag-Lloyd will decide to repeat the exercise on any of the remaining 16 LNG-ready vessels.
Hapag-Lloyd has previously detailed that fitting this 6,700-cbm LNG bunker tank will result in the loss of 298 onboard container slots.
Company officials working on the project have said that it was necessary to find a balance between the bunker tank capacity and the trading range of the vessel.
The Sajir will trade between Europe and Asia and the expectation is that it will bunker LNG in two locations.
