Keppel Names SE Asia's First LNG Tug

Singapore shipbuilder Keppel Offshore & Marine said April 25 its wholly owned subsidiary, Keppel Singmarine, is on track to deliver South East Asia's first dual-fuel LNG tug to Keppel Smit Towage on time.

The vessel was named KST Liberty at a ceremony held at Keppel Singmarine the same day.

The christening of KST Liberty "marks an important milestone in Singapore's journey to make LNG bunkering available at our port as early as 2020," said Loh Ngai Seng, permanent secretary at Singapore's transport ministry during the naming ceremony, congratulating Keppel for taking the lead - under Singapore's LNG Bunkering Pilot Programme - in building and operating the city state's first LNG-fuelled vessel. The official said that such partnerships "bring us closer to our goal of cleaner and more sustainable marine fuels.”

The new tug is one of seven dual-fuel vessels that Keppel O&M is building, said Abu Bakar, the company's managing director of gas and specialised vessels. Shell will supply LNG to KST Liberty while FueLNG, a joint venture between Keppel O&M and Shell Eastern Petroleum, will provide LNG bunkering -  to be conducted at Jurong Port.

Romi Kaushal, managing director of Keppel Smit Towage, said the new KST Liberty tug has "environmentally-friendly features that exceed the requirements of the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) global cap of 0.5% on the sulphur content of marine fuel that comes into force on 1st January, 2020." The 65-tonne bollard pull LNG dual-fuel azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug was built to Keppel's proprietary design. The LNG fuel is carried in containerised ISO-certified tanks on the main deck, and re-fuelling can be done by truck to ship operations or replacing the empty tanks with replenished ones.

Earlier this month, Keppel Singmarine secured a contract with Japan's Mitsui to build Singapore's first dual-fuel bunker tanker, to be owned and operated by Sinanju Tankers Holdings.