LNG RoRo Newbuilding Aground off Norway

zoom Nor Lines’ 5,000 dwt short sea cargo Ro/Ro vessel MS Kvitbjørn (White Bear) ran aground off Ulsteinvik on Sunday morning local time, little over two months after entering service, according to local media. The LNG-powered Kvitbjørn was refloated at around 9:45 pm in high tide, with the assistance of the tug S/B Hugin. The Ro/Ro ship was towed to a Rolls Royce facility for the inspection of its underwater sections. Back in April MS Kvitbjørn became the world’s first vessel to operate between Asia and Europe solely on liquefied natural gas (LNG) as the ship’s bunker fuel, when it sailed to Norway from Tsuji Heavy Industries shipyard in Jiangsu, China. MS Kvitbjørn has been employed on a service connecting the German Port of Cuxhaven with the Norwegian mainland’s most Northern city, Hammerfest, since the beginning of May. World Maritime News Staff