Crowley Maritime Corporation’s first liquified natural gas (LNG)-powered combination container – Roll-On/Roll-Off (ConRo) ship has reached the 25% construction milestone and remains on schedule for delivery in the second quarter of 2017.
The vessel is one of a pair of Commitment-class ships that VT Halter Marine Inc. is constructing for Crowley to replace the company’s towed triple-deck barge fleet, which has been in service since the early 1970s. The second ship is due for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The 219.5-meter ships — to be named El Coquí and Taíno — have been designed to maximize the carriage of 53’, 102”-wide containers and offer maximum cubic cargo capacity. At 32.3 meters wide with a 10-meter draft, both ships have an approximate deadweight capacity of 26,500 metric tons. Cargo capacity will be approximately 2,400 TEUs (20-foot-equivalent-units), with additional space for nearly 400 vehicles in an enclosed Ro/Ro garage.
The main propulsion and auxiliary engines will be fueled by environmentally-friendly LNG. The ship design is provided by Wartsila Ship Design in conjunction with Crowley subsidiary Jensen Maritime, a Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm.
Crowley has invested heavily in LNG technology, forming an LNG services group earlier this year to provide LNG vessel design and construction management; transportation; product sales and distribution, and full-scale, project management solutions. The Jacksonville, Fla.-based company recently completed LNG awareness training for first responders in the Port of Jacksonville.
