The floating gas station that the Asturian group Armón has just built in its shipyard in Gijón is a double pioneer. This is the first tanker to be built in Spain to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to other ships at sea, and it will also be the first floating gas station in a network that Enagás will launch in the main Spanish ports. The “Haugesund Knutsen”, which is the name of the barge, will shortly begin operating in the port of Barcelona. To it will be added at the end of 2023 another tanker in Algeciras and in 2025 another in the Canary Islands.
Although most ships continue to use fuel oil or marine diesel for their engines, the use of liquefied natural gas has established itself in recent years as a cleaner alternative that is aligned with the EU’s decarbonisation objectives. According to Gasnam, an association that promotes the use of natural and renewable gas in mobility in Spain, during 2021, 943 gas refueling operations were carried out on ships (also known as “bunkering”) in Spanish ports, 27% more than the last year. In addition, the port of Gijón joined the list of 15 ports that already offer the service in 2021. Refueling can be done from fuel tanks or tankers at the dock, but also by tankers that function as if they were floating gas stations (“bunkering ship to ship”). The ship that needs to refuel is located on the side of the tanker and, through a pumping system, receives the fuel without the need to dock in port.
The order. Within a plan financed by the European Commission, the Spanish operator Enagás and the Norwegian shipping company Knutsen awarded the Asturian shipbuilding group Armón the manufacture of the first Spanish barge for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) between ships at sea.
keel laying. The Armón Gijón shipyard, specialized in large ships, was in charge of the design and construction of this tanker, which is 92 meters long and 17 meters wide. In March 2021, the boat’s keel laying ceremony was held.
Within the “LNGhive2” strategy, co-financed by the EU, coordinated by Enagás and led by Puertos del Estado, the construction of a tanker that will load LNG in the Barcelona regasification plant and will operate in Mediterranean ports was approved in 2020. The Norwegian shipping company Knutsen and Enagás, through its subsidiary Scale Gas, promoted the project and awarded the design and construction of the ship to the Asturian group Armón. In March 2021, the keel of the ship was laid at the Gijón shipyard and its construction was completed last September and is in the testing phase. She is 92 meters long and 17 meters wide, and tanks with a capacity for 5,000 cubic meters of LNG. The ship will be operated by Shell.
The installation of deposits. The ship has a capacity for 5,000 cubic meters of LNG and to install its tanks – manufactured in Italy and weighing 260 tons – it was necessary to remove the barge from the shipyard and take it to the port of El Musel. There the deposits were transferred from a freighter to the barge.
testing and delivery. The ship returned to the shipyard for its completion, which occurred last September. Since then the “Haugensund Knutsen” is in the testing phase before starting to operate in the port of Barcelona. There she will load LNG to supply it to ships in Mediterranean ports.
It is the first gas tanker barge to be manufactured in Spain and with this experience Armón is in an advantageous position with regard to new contracts in this new emerging business niche. In fact, Enagás is promoting a network of floating gas stations. Its subsidiary Scale Gas and the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras, with funding from the European Commission, agreed to build a 12,500 cubic meter tanker to operate around the Strait of Gibraltar from the end of 2023 but they ordered it from the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard shipyard in South Korea. In the middle of this month, Enagás announced that it has obtained aid of 15 million European funds to build a third floating gas station for the Canary Islands. The ship, which will be operational in 2025, will have a capacity of 12,500 cubic meters of LNG and will also be able to supply ammonia as marine fuel (BioLNG).