With the christening of the world’s largest Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) bunker supply vessel, MV Kairos, on February 8, 2019, a truly historic ceremony took place on the River Elbe in Hamburg, Germany. The Gas Supply Vessel (GSV) is under the full management of BSM Germany.

The ceremony took place at the Hamburg Cruise Centre Steinwerder, with more than 250 guests witnessing the christening of the vessel by her godmother Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Federal Chairperson of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU).

Owned by Babcock Schulte Energy (BSE), a 50-50 joint venture between Babcock International Group and BSM, the vessel has been developed using cutting-edge, innovative technology that provides environmental benefits and increases operational efficiency for its customers.

Equipped with Babcock’s Fuel Gas Supply Vessel Zero (FGSV0™), MV Kairos will eliminate the release of boil-off and flash gas to the atmosphere during normal operations, providing an environmentally accountable fuelling alternative.

Nauticor, a leading provider of LNG for maritime customers, is chartering the GSV to serve marine customers in the North & Baltic Seas, namely the Klaipėda LNG fuelling station in Lithuania and the Linde LNG terminal in Nynäshamn.

Present at the ceremony along with Dr. Heinrich Schulte, Chairman of the Schulte Group, Johann Schulte, Managing Director and Chief Commercial Officer of Bernhard Schulte and Ian Beveridge, Schulte Group CEO, were many other team members of the Schulte Group.

“We are happy to have found with Nauticor/Linde a reputable long-term partner for this innovative, high-tech vessel. We expect a growing market share of LNG as a bunker fuel in the years to come, and together with our joint venture partner Babcock, we feel well-positioned to further exploit the evolving opportunities of this market,” said Ian.

The GSV development is co-financed by the European Union (EU) as part of the Blue Baltics-LNG infrastructure deployment in the Baltic Sea Region project.