LNG Bunkering Arranged for Pasha’s New Jones Act Containerships
Agreements were reached for the supply of LNG for Pasha Hawaii’s two new containerships due to enter service in late 2021 and early 2022. Clean Energy Fuels Corp. will make its entry into the maritime LNG business supplying the fuel to World Fuel Services. When the vessels begin operating from the Port of Long Beach, they will become one of the first natural gas-powered containerships to call on the U.S. West Coast and the first to service Hawaii.
The LNG that will power the Pasha Hawaii container ships will come from the Clean Energy plant in Boron, California. Clean Energy is expanding the Boron LNG plant by adding a production train that increases production by 50 percent. Clean Energy uses organic waste, including from local dairy farms, to make sustainable fuel. It will supply an estimated 78 million gallons of liquefied natural gas for the two Pasha Hawaii container ships. World Fuel Services has contracted with West Coast Clean Fuels to transport and load the LNG into the ship fuel tanks. Clean Energy’s Cryogenics division will also perform the tank conditioning and first LNG bunkering at the Texas shipyard.
The first of Pasha’s two 43,500 dwt container ships, the George III, is due to begin operation in the fourth quarter of 2021 and will be joined by her sister ship the Janet Marie sailing between California and Hawaii. The vessels are being built at Keppel AmFELS’ Brownsville, Texas shipyard.
“Named after my late parents, the M/V George III and the Janet Marie were specifically designed to utilize the latest in technologies to construct clean fuel ships that we hope will set a precedent for environmental sustainability within our shipping industry,” said George Pasha, IV, president and CEO of Pasha Hawaii. “These ships represent our commitment to our customers and the environmental health of both Hawaii and Southern California. Partnering with Clean Energy and World Fuel Services brings us one step closer to achieving this goal.”
The first steel for the sister ships was cut in September 2018 with the keel laid for the George III in April 2019. The 774-foot Jones Act vessels will carry 2,525 TEUs, with a sailing speed of 23.0 knots. According to Pasha, the design of the ship’s hull was fully optimized using computational fluid dynamics and will be one of the most hydrodynamically efficient hulls in the world. Energy savings will also be achieved with a state-of-the-art engine and an underwater propulsion system with a high-efficiency rudder and propeller.