The Independence is a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at Lithuania’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Klaipėda, and it is distinguished among such vessels because of its workload and the number of operations in which in engages. This was reported in an interview by Michael Gately, the US captain who is now in charge of the ship and its crew.
“I would say that the Klaipėda LNG terminal is the busiest one among others,” Gately told BNS in an interview. He is also a lieutenant commander of the US Navy Reserve. “We have had more than 450 ship-to-ship operations since the vessel started operations, and that is more than any other LNG terminal at which I have worked before. We also have an active small-scale LNG export business, which is not the case at some other LNG terminals.”
Gately has been working at the Independence in eight-week shifts since 2021, and he says that the work is never ending.
“On board the Independence, ours is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week operation,” the ship master says. “There’s always a high level of tempo, and that is the main difference. The compressors are constantly running, and the cargo pumps are constantly pumping liquefied gas.”
Lt Col Gately has run LNG storage vessels owned by the Norwegian company Hoegh LNG since 2020. It currently owns the Independence, and he has also worked at LNG vessels in Colombia, Indonesia and Turkey.
KN Energies (formerly known as Klaipėdos Nafta) is Lithuania’s state-owned oil product and LNG terminals operator, and it is planning to buy the Independence from Hoegh LNG at the end of this year for USD 153.5 million plus VAT.
Once this is done, the vessel will be registered in Lithuania’s Register of Seagoing Ships and will fly the Lithuanian flag beginning in December.
Once KN Energies takes over the vessel, Hoegh LNG Klaipeda, which is a Lithuanian subsidiary of Norway’s Hoegh LNG, will become the vessel’s technical operator for the next five years.
Source: BNS
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