European LNG Hybrid Barge Successfully Launched

The SAM Shipbuilding and Machinery shipyard in in Komárno, Slovakia has launched the LNG Hybrid Barge being built for Hybrid Port Energy GmbH, a subsidiary of Becker Marine Systems, Hamburg, Germany. The barge will be an LNG fueled floating power station delivering power to cruise ships in the Port of Hamburg, allowing them to switch off the their oil burning auxiliary engines during port calls. The launch was hailed by Dirk Lehman, Managing Director of Becker Marine Systems as “an important day for the shipping industry, because the LNG Hybrid Barge is a big step forward for supplying cruise ships with environmentally-friendly energy.” The LNG Hybrid Barge, with a length of 250 feet, a breadth of 37 feet and draft of only 5.6 feet, is set to leave the Komárno shipyard September 12th to the start the 900 mile journey up the Danube, Main and Rhine rivers north towards Hamburg. Once there, technical testing and commissioning will be taking place at a shipyard. Following a naming ceremony in mid- October, the LNG Hybrid Barge will begin delivering energy to a cruise ship as part of a joint project with AIDA Cruises.
Hamburg will thus be the first port in Europe to be providing an external, environmentally- friendly and low-emission power supply to cruise ships. Delivered only two years after the start of the project, the LNG Hybrid Barge is equipped with five generators with an overall output of 7.5 MW (50/60 Hz). These generators will be powered the first marine classified LNG Caterpillar engines to be delivered to customers.