Norway: Skangass – New LNG Ship in Operation Soon

Just under three months now remain before Coral Energy, Skangass’ new LNG ship is to be launched and put in operation. For the time being, the ship is in dock in the Baltic Sea, at the Neptun Shipyard where an impressive number of people are working flat out to finish the ship.

Two years ago, the planning started for Skangass’ new LNG tanker, a ship which is to replace the Coral Methane, which is currently operating between Risavika, Øra and Nynäshamn in Sweden. Coral Methane has a capacity for 7500 cubic of LNG, whereas the capacity of the new ship, the Coral Energy, is twice as large. The loading capacity of the ship is most essential to enable it to carry the large volumes of LNG destined for customers in Sweden and Eastern Norway. But a larger ship with a greater capacity is also needed with a view to future customer contracts.

Large and extensive project

In the course of three months, the ship is to be completed, launched and tested before being christened in Rotterdam in December. “With the doubling of the transport capacity, the Coral Energy will form the backbone of Skangass. The Dutch shipping company Anthony Veder has never built such a large LNG tanker before, and in a European context, this is the largest ship that will carry nothing but LNG, designed for waters in North-Western Europe,” says Knut Arvid Fisketjøn, Manager of Procurement and Administration in Skangass.

Currently, 650 persons are working to complete the ship. The project is being led by top rate engineers, several of whom have specialist skills in developing tanks for freighting LNG. ”Among other workers, there are 150 painters and 250 electricians who now have started the final run of the work. There is activity at the shipyard twenty hours of the day,” according to Frank Politz, a proud project manager at the Neptun Shipyard.

Skangass has monitored the process of planning and building the ship from day one and has paid particular attention to ensuring that the safety of the shipyard workers is attended to.

”Right now the shipyard is very busy, and it is incredibly exciting to watch the ship take form,” says Knut Arvid.

In German media

Completion of the Coral Energy has also been noticed by the local media, and recently the German newspaper Ostsee-Zeitung Rostock ran a feature about the ship. “The ship is clearly visible where it stands high above the flat landscape. Its shear size has meant that the shipyard has had to get hold of outsized cranes to lift the bridge and compressors into place,” wrote the Politz.

The Coral Energy will be christened in Rotterdam in early December.

Nearly there: Knut Arvid Fisketjøn in Skangass and Claes Karttemaers, Project Manager in Anthony Veder, have worked closely together during the project to build the Coral Energy. “Now it is really starting to take shape,” says Knut Arvid Fisketjøn, who is looking forward to adding a robust LNG tanker to the traffic between Risavika and customers in Eastern Norway and in Sweden.

Future large-scale loading of LNG: The Coral Energy is the largest LNG tanker among ships that carry nothing but LNG. The ship is especially designed for North West European waters and will be christened in Rotterdam in December.