Shanghai port has carried out China’s first simultaneous anchorage bunkering of two international containerships with LNG and biomethanol, according to Wusong Maritime Safety Administration.
The operation took place from 15 to 16 August at Lvhuashan South Anchorage, where the Malta-flagged CMA CGM Osmium received 8,016 tonnes of biomethanol and Singapore-flagged Kota Elan took 5,038 cubic metres of LNG.
Methanol bunker vessel Haigang Zhiyuan supplied CMA CGM Osmium while LNG bunker vessel Haigang Weilai fuelled Kota Elan. The maritime authority identified the 8,016-tonne delivery as a world record for a single methanol bunkering operation.
The two ship-to-ship transfers were carried out in parallel at the open anchorage under traffic controls and with monitoring of weather, mooring arrangements and emergency procedures.
Most of the biomethanol supplied to CMA CGM Osmium came from Shanghai Electric’s Taonan project in China’s Jilin province. The fuel was moved by road to Dalian, shipped to Shanghai and delivered to the vessel at the anchorage.
CMA CGM Osmium is a Malta-flagged 13,000-TEU methanol dual-fuel containership operated by French transport and logistics group CMA CGM. The vessel had called at Qingdao and was heading for Ningbo via Shanghai.
Kota Elan is a Singapore-flagged 13,064-TEU LNG dual-fuel containership owned and operated by Singapore-headquartered Pacific International Lines. The newly built vessel was due to conduct ballast sea trials after bunkering.