Spliethoff to build seven LNG-fuelled vessels for UPM charter
Finnish forest industry company UPM has entered into a long-term charter agreement with two affiliates of the Dutch Spliethoff Group for seven LNG-fuelled vessels.
UPM said on Monday that it signed the agreement with the Finnish Bore Ltd and the Dutch Wijnne Barends.
According to the company, the three firms will design and build seven vessels for sustainable sea transportation for UPM in Europe.
Bore will build three roll-on lift-off (RoLo) vessels for transporting UPM’s paper products, and Wijnne Barends will build four lift-on lift-off (LoLo) vessels for transporting pulp and other forest products.
The vessels will be built in China and are scheduled to be delivered in 2021 and 2022.
All vessels are time chartered by UPM and will be fully operated by the company. They will be ice-strengthened and meet the latest technological, operational, and environmental standards.
The vessels will be fueled with LNG which results in around 25 percent reduction of CO2 emissions compared with commonly used marine gas oil. Also, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides emissions will decrease by approximately 85 and 99 percent, respectively.
Michael van den Heuvel, CCO of Spliethoff, said: “We are very pleased to be able to offer UPM these next-generation sustainable vessels. The new vessels running on LNG fit well in our continuous drive for greener operations.”
Illustration (Image courtesy of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
