VT Halter Marine Launches LNG Bunker Barge

The Q-LNG 4000 recently launched from the docks of VT Halter Marine based in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The Q-LNG 4000 is the first U.S. offshore LNG Articulated Tug and Barge (LNG ATB) unit. The Q-LNG 4000 barge is designed to carry 4,000 cubic meters of LNG, with dimensions of 324’ x 64’ x 32’.6”. Its tug, the Q-Ocean Services, is scheduled to launch late October. The tug will have 5,100 horsepower, powered by two GE 6L250 MDC EPA Tier 4 main engines, with Wartsila Z-drives, and dimensions of 128’ x 42’ x 21’.

“The Q-LNG 4000 is dedicated to delivering safe transit to all ships and ports it will serve,” said Shane J Guidry, Chief Executive Officer of Q-LNG Transport. “Q-LNG Transport is committed to being a leader in developing LNG infrastructure in the United States and abroad. We are equally pleased that the ATB unit is Jones Act compliant, meaning she was constructed in America, owned by an American company, crewed by Americans under an American flag.”

The LNG ATB Unit is designed to meet the requirements of American Bureau of Shipbuilding and the International Gas Carrier code as an LNG bunkering barge. Anticipated delivery of the ATB unit is in the first quarter of 2020.

In November 2017, VT Halter Marine was awarded a contract by Q-LNG Transport to build the ATB LNG unit. It was announced as part of a long-term contract with Shell Trading to deliver LNG as a fuel source to various ports in Florida and the Caribbean. It will bunker Carnival Cruise Line’s two new dual-fuel ships and two dual fuel Siem Car Carrier pure car truck carriers chartered by the Volkswagen Group to transport vehicles from Europe to North America.