First ship-to-ship operation at Finnish port

Wes Amelie, the world’s first container ship retrofitted with an LNG engine, received LNG through a SIMOPS ship-to-ship bunker operation from the world’s largest LNG bunker supply vessel, Kairos at the Vuosaari Harbour container terminal in the Port of Helsinki.

Andreas Slotte, head of sustainable development at the Port of Helsinki, commented: “With the first ship-to-ship LNG bunker operation in our port being conducted successfully, the Port of Helsinki proves again its ambition to facilitate the use of more environmentally friendly alternatives to oil-based fuels.”

The bunkering, which took place 21 September, was conducted by Nauticor and Unifeeder. The SIMOPS LNG ship-to-ship bunker operation was the first such operation conducted by Wes Amelie and Kairos. However, both vessels already conducted their first LNG ship-to-ship operation at anchorage by Visby, Sweden, in April 2019.

Hans Staal, head of bunker procurement at Unifeeder, said: “The first SIMOPS LNG ship-to-ship transfer at a container terminal for the “Wes Amelie” was a great success, due to the smooth cooperation between the crews on board of the LNG bunker vessel and the receiving vessel, the terminal and port operators, the Nauticor experts and our bunker team here at Unifeeder.”

Lydia Glabisch, operations manager at Nauticor, stated the operation demonstrated that “bunkering LNG is as efficient and uncomplicated as bunkering conventional fuels, especially when it is performed ship-to-ship and in parallel to the cargo operations”.