The Swedish shipping company has entrusted the Hamburg-based supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with providing bunker fuel for its gas-powered newbuilds.
Visborg, the first €160m worth LNG-run ro-pax built by the Chinese Guangzhou Shipyard International for Destination Gotland, will enter traffic between the Swedish mainland (Nynäshamn) and the island of Gotland (Visby) this year. Her sister ship is to join the company's fleet later on. Each vessel will offer room for 1,650 passengers.
The two ferries will be fuelled with the use of Nauticor's purpose-built 7.5k m3 of capacity LNG bunkering vessel. The ship is to be commissioned this year, too.
"We are very happy that we have been able to win Destination Gotland, which is a highly professional operator of one of the largest LNG-fueled ferries in the world, as a customer. Our new LNG bunker vessel will play an important role in developing a tailor made solution for Destination Gotland. Further, we will closely cooperate with our sister company AGA that operates the Linde Group's LNG terminal in Nynäshamn. Thus, we create a unique supply chain leveraging the expansive LNG assets of the Linde Group in Scandinavia. This marks an important step in the development of a stable supply of LNG for the shipping industry in North Sea & Baltic Sea," Mahinde Abeynaike, CEO, Nauticor, said.
Christer Bruzelius, CEO, Destination Gotland, also commented, "We are glad to have found in Nauticor a leading and experienced LNG supplier and partner. We are now able to offer not only a comfortable and safe passage from the mainland to the island of Gotland to our 1.75 million passengers per year, but at the same time contribute to the protection of the environment along the Swedish coast."
Photo: Nauticor