Hamburg-based Nauticor, a unit of Linde, said the world’s largest LNG bunker vessel, the 7,500-cbm Kairos has started operations in Northwest Europe.

Chartered by Blue LNG, a joint venture between Nauticor with a 90 percent share and the Lithuanian energy infrastructure provider KN with a 10 percent share, the ship was handed over by the owner Babcock Schulte Energy in the port of Klaipeda.

Speaking of the vessels, Nauticor’s CEO Mahinde Abeynaike said it will secure the supply of LNG as a marine fuel in the Baltic Sea on a large-scale basis.

“Thanks to our large LNG storage tanks with a pump rate equivalent to more than 30 LNG trucks per hour,” Abeynaike said.

The Kairos is also capable of supplying large vessels with LNG in the Baltic Sea.

The construction of the vessel started in 2016 when the joint venture signed a time-charter agreement with ship owner Babcock Schulte Energy.

In February 2018, steel cutting took place at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in Ulsan, South Korea, and in October 2018 the vessel was delivered by the shipyard.