Crowley’s first LNG-powered Commitment Class ConRo ship has reached about 25% complete at VT Halter.
The two Commitment class ships, which will be named El Coquí (ko-kee) and Taíno (tahy-noh), are being built specifically for the Jones Act trade between the U.S. Mainland and Puerto Rico.
The vessels are designed to maximize the carriage of 53-foot, 102-inch-wide containers, offering the most cubic cargo capacity in the trade. The ships will be 219.5 meters long, 32.3 meters wide (beam), have a deep draft of 10 meters, and an approximate deadweight capacity of 26,500 metric tonnes. Cargo capacity will be approximately 2,400 TEUs (20-foot-equivalent-units), with additional space for nearly 400 vehicles in an enclosed Ro/Ro garage. The ship design is provided by Wartsila Ship Design in conjunction with Crowley subsidiary Jensen Maritime, a leading Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm.
The main propulsion and auxiliary engines will be fueled by LNG, which will rank them among the most environmentally-friendly ships in the Jones Act fleet.
The two ships will replace Crowley’s towed triple-deck barge fleet upon delivery in second and fourth quarter 2017, respectively.
