STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — With construction completed early on a vessel at the shipyards in Sturgeon Bay, officials celebrated the event Tuesday morning.
With a determined swing of the champagne bottle, sponsor Nikki Della Pesca officially christened the barge “Clean Everglades.”
“It’s very exciting. It’s like seeing a brand new car. Everything’s nice, and pretty in the beginning,” said Tim Casey, CEO Seaside LNG.
Seaside LNG’s CEO Tim Casey says the 340-foot long Clean Everglades is designed to carry and deliver liquified natural gas.
“Liquified natural gas is just natural gas that comes into your homes, that we take. We reduce it to -260 degrees, and it becomes a liquid. And then, they use that for fuel for ships,” said Casey.
Casey says using LNG reduces a ship’s carbon footprint by 30 percent. Construction on this barge began two years ago at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding in Sturgeon Bay. Vice President and General Manager Jan Allman says it is the second barge delivered in its class.
“For us, it’s been a huge accomplishment and it’s great to see. When we did the Clean Canaveral, it was during COVID time, and we were so proud to deliver her on time. And today, we’re seeing the sister vessel being delivered six weeks early,” said Jan Allman, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding VP and GM.
Could more LNG barges be built in Sturgeon Bay in the future?
“We hope too. As we talked about, their customer wants to see eight more. And I said we’ll be happy to sign that contract any time soon. So looking forward to that,” said Allman.
“I don’t know if we quite get to eight, but I can see at least two or three more coming out of this shipyard. So we’re excited for that,” said Casey.
Over the next month, Clean Everglades will be fitted with a tug boat, and then head to Jacksonville, Florida to be put into service.
