Dutch bunkering specialist Titan LNG has started a search for a large barge newbuilding as the company grows its business with a third vessel.
Titan said it has contracted shipbroker Fearnleys to run the tender process for an 8,000-cbm LNG bunker barge that it is dubbing the Titan Hyperion
The company said the technical and economic feasibility assessment has been finalised by its newbuilding team.
The 135-metre-long barge, which will have a breadth of 19 metres, will be deployed in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) region in northern Europe and be operational in 2021.
The new unit will also serve as the mothership to fill Titan's two FlexFuelers.
Titan said it will be among the larger inland waterway barges trading in the ARA region.
The Titan Hyperion will be the company's third barge-based LNG bunkering unit and is designed to address the fast-growing market segment of larger ocean-going LNG fuelled vessels calling at ports in the ARA, the company said.
Greek God
Titan said the vessel the result of "extensive interactions with customers that identified the need for more economic LNG bunkering solutions than the seagoing (bunker) ships in use today."
The company added that the name of its newbuilding is a nod to one of the Titans Greek mythology. "They were the offspring of Uranus (sky) and Gaia (earth) who brought down the old Gods, just as LNG will bring down the use of oil-based shipping fuels," the company said.
Titan LNG chief technical officer Ronald van Selm said: “In the design, we have incorporated four years of lessons learned from LNG bunkering, including the FlexFueler barges and the largest LNG bunkering transfers using small scale LNG carriers in the world.
"Our design will enable Titan LNG to efficiently, safely, and cost effectively deliver larger parcels of the cleanest marine fuel. The Titan Hyperion will be ideal for servicing large tankers, cruise, container and offshore vessels."
