Last Friday, Eagle LNG Partners (Eagle LNG) celebrated the 100th bunkering event of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Talleyrand LNG Bunker Station, located at Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT), with Crowley Maritime (Crowley). Eagle LNG is proud of this accomplishment having delivered on its weekly LNG bunkering commitment regardless of COVID-19 constraints or shipping challenges.

“Since March, our operations staff have continued working with Crowley’s ship management teams to maintain safe bunkering of their ships, MV Taíno and MV El Coquí, while adhering to public health guidelines. This is a testament to the operating procedures we developed together in the spirit of partnership to keep cargo moving,” reports Sean Lalani, president of Eagle LNG. With multiple layers of safety and environmental precautions in place, we have safely surpassed 100 bunkering events. Eagle LNG is proud of the safety practices jointly created with the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, Crowley and JAXPORT – practices that are now a standard for others in the LNG industry. LNG has been shown to be both safe and reliable, in addition to being the best fuel solution to deliver environmental performance and cost savings. We look forward to serving the maritime industry throughout the country with clean burning, low-cost, U.S. LNG and bringing these remarkable benefits to countries in the Caribbean basin.”

Eagle LNG Talleyrand, which provides safe and reliable on-site storage for over 500,000 gallons of LNG, has successfully delivered over 30 million gallons or almost 50,000 metric tons over the last 100 bunkering activities to these first-in-class ships. The facility is the first of its kind in North America to provide shoreside storage and bunkering equipment to deliver the cleaner energy source for the Commitment Class, combination container/roll-on roll-off (ConRo) ships, which provide ocean transportation of dry, refrigerated and vehicle cargoes under the Jones Act.

With Eagle LNG’s proximal location to the Caribbean basin and those countries increasing use of LNG for power generation, together with one of our production locations in the Southeastern U.S. meeting a growing demand for LNG as a transportation fuel, and with our many strategic partnerships, Eagle LNG continues to create new U.S. trade opportunities adding jobs and stimulating economic development for Northeast Florida and the surrounding region, as well as spurring economic activity and jobs throughout the Caribbean basin.

Eagle LNG’s Maxville LNG Facility, located about 20 miles west of downtown Jacksonville, offers 1 million LNG-gallons of storage for daily transfers by truck to Talleyrand assuring Crowley’s weekly fuel supply. Eagle LNG is also supplying LNG to ISO tank containers for distribution into the Caribbean for power and industrial users.

“This milestone represents the result of collaboration, hard work and dedication to safety and reliability of our mariners, the men and women of Crowley, Eagle LNG, VT Halter Marine, U.S. Coast Guard, JAXPORT and the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department,” said Crowley Vice President Cole Cosgrove, head of the global ship management group. “We committed ourselves to ensuring these ships and our communities can leverage the benefits of cleaner energy and maximize service to our customers and partners. The achievement today signifies the ongoing commitment to long-term, environmentally sustainable ocean shipping between the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico.”

It is important to recognize that JAXPORT, more than a decade ago, began exploring LNG bunkering for the U.S. East Coast. JAXPORT has always been welcoming of bunkering innovations and now receives inquiries from Ports and shippers around the globe asking them to share their success story. By being amongst the first to work with LNG providers, shippers and others for the future of this environmentally friendly fuel that meets International Maritime Organization (IMO) 2020 standards to reduce marine emissions in international waters, JAXPORT today is recognized as a worldwide leader in provisioning ships powered by LNG.

“With more than a billion dollars in LNG investments in the Northeast Florida region, JAXPORT partners are pioneers in the use of LNG as a clean fuel and a cargo type,” said JAXPORT CEO Eric Green. “As the use of LNG expands globally, our community continues to benefit from the environmental advantages, new business, jobs and other opportunities that come with being a global leader in the clean fuel revolution.”

Eagle LNG is also moving forward on a new larger, on-water liquefaction plant and terminal in Jacksonville, the Jacksonville LNG Export Facility, capable of producing 1.0 MTPA with 45,000 m3 or almost 12 million gallons of storage. “With an additional investment of ~$500 million to build the new export facility plus other planned expansions across the U.S. and in the Caribbean basin, Eagle LNG is committed to meeting the demand for small-scale LNG in the region plus the ever increasing domestic need for fuel-grade LNG,” reports Lalani.