Coral EnergICE, the first LNG carrier holding the Ice Class 1A Super, was named today Thursday 25 January by Aino-Maija Luukkonen, Mayor of Pori, Finland. The naming ceremony took place at the Port of Turku, Finland. The 18,000 cbm LNG vessel had been delivered to its owner, Anthony Veder, by Neptun Werft in Rostock, Germany. Coral EnergICE is specially designed and constructed to operate in the Baltic Sea. Skangas operates the vessel in order to bring LNG to Skangas LNG terminal in Pori and the joint venture Manga LNG terminal Tornio in Finland.

Coral EnergICE, first Ice Class 1A Super LNG carrier named

The vessel's hull is reinforced to break through one-meter thick ice with the engines and generators designed to give the vessel extra power when sailing through thick ice and harsh winter conditions. Furthermore, this state-of-the art vessel is equipped with a dual fuel engine. It uses LNG boil-off gas as a fuel for its main and auxiliary engines, making the vessel fully compliant with future emission regulations.

On deck innovations also provide for safe operations. One such example is the cap on deck, which protects the equipment and prevents icing outside. The vessel also has additional shelters on deck with warmer platforms for the crew's feet. Heat tracing on the doors ensures that they will always open, no matter how harsh the conditions might be.

Skangas CEO, Kimmo Rahkamo says "Skangas helps its customers reach their environmental and operational targets by offering efficient and stable LNG deliveries. The new vessel supports our goal to develop the Nordic LNG infrastructure and gas market. This way, we can offer the end users in the maritime and industry sectors an even more competitive product."

Anthony Veder CEO, Jan Valkier says: "Coral EnergICE is the third LNG carrier we have delivered to our long-term customer Skangas in the past five years. The high-tech vessel is capable of serving the northern Finnish harbor of Tornio all year around, even when temperatures reach as low as -25 Celsius degrees. To ensure that it's a comfortable and friendly place for our crew to work, we engaged an ergonomic engineer to look closely at the accommodation design. I am extremely proud of the end-result."

Neptun Werft Managing Director, Raimon Strunck says: "Following the successful delivery of Coral Energy in 2012, we were delighted that Anthony Veder awarded us the construction of Coral EnergICE. The new vessel's design is based on Coral Energy, enhanced with technological innovations and construction adaptations for extreme cold weather conditions, thereby giving her the 1A Super ice class classification."

Coral EnergICE's construction was funded with the first sustainable shipping loan, fully certified in accordance with the Clean Shipping Index Guidelines by Bureau Veritas, who also verified the sustainable credentials of the transaction.

Compared to other marine fuels, LNG as a marine fuel drastically cuts both sulphur oxide (SOx) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. It is recognized by the shipping industry as the most viable alternative fuel for the reduction of emissions. Due to the LNG capabilities of Coral EnergICE, the Business Sector's NOx fund has granted support for the development of this vessel.

Source: Skangas