First LNG stem delivered in La Rochelle

Gasum delivered an LNG bunker stem to a newly built cruise ship in the port of La Rochelle on the French west coast.

PHOTO: The Kairos LNG bunker delivery vessel. Gasum

Its bunker vessel Kairos delivered LNG stem to a cruise ship built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique.

The 7,500 cbm-capacity Kairos is one of 33 LNG bunker vessels operating in Europe, according to ship classification society DNV. It is owned by Bernhard Schulte and chartered to Gasum.

There are only 10 LNG-fuelled cruise ships in operation across the globe today, out of a total LNG-fuelled fleet of 317 vessels, DNV data shows. Another 29 LNG-fuelled cruise ships are on order for deliveries towards 2028.

Gasum said last November it had moved the Kairos to the ARA to expand its bunker network there. It had previously mostly operated in the Baltic Sea and North Sea.