Conrad to build first LNG bunker barge for North America

Another milestone in the development of LNG as a marine fuel in the U.S. was reached in early March when Conrad Industries, Morgan City, La., signed a contract to build the first dedicated LNG bunker barge in North America

The barge will be built by Conrad Orange Shipyard in Texas for WesPac Midstream and its affiliate, Clean Marine Energy, which will deploy the barge out of Tacoma, Wash. Clean Marine’s customer will be TOTE Orca-class cargo vessels, which are being converted to LNG.

The 232'×48'8"×15'8" bunker barge was designed by Bristol Harbor Group, Bristol, R.I., with significant input from Conrad and GTT, the French company that developed the LNG cryogenic membrane containment technology being used for this project. Unlike type C cylindrical tanks, the GTT membrane tanks can be built to fit spaces inside a vessel. The vessel shell can also serve as the outside of the tank. Inside is a layer of foam covered by stainless steel.

Robert Sampey, a spokesman for Conrad, said the company did an analysis of an existing 304' hull for LNG storage capacity. With C tanks, the capacity was about 3,000 cu. meters. With membrane tanks, the capacity was 4,200 cu. meters, a 40% increase in volume.

The new barge from Conrad will have a capacity of 2,200 cu. meters. It will feature an innovative bunker mast design, called REACH4, which was developed by GTT for simple and safe LNG transfer to the client vessel.

Construction of the new LNG bunker barge is expected to be completed by early 2016.

Conrad has exclusive rights to GTT membrane technology in North America.

“Its really exciting for us and for the industry,” said Sampey. “It’s a big deal to get the first one on the books and to get cranking on it. I think a lot of people were waiting on this first one to get cranked up. We have some customers who were semi-interested, but who have now shifted into high gear now that they know that this is a real possibility.”

— Bruce Buls