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Hamburg-based Becker Marine Systems reports that technical trials for its LNG Hybrid Barge have been "successful".

The commissioning of the barge for low-emission power supply to cruise ships lying at port in Hamburg is now due to commence in May 2015.

"The operation of all five of the Hummel's generator sets recently took place as part of class acceptance," explained Dirk Lehmann and Henning Kuhlmann, both managing directors of Becker Marine Systems, in a statement.

In collaboration with Bureau Veritas, the overall LNG Hybrid Barge system was tested and a variety of large load impacts and load spikes were simulated. The overall load transfer of 0 to 7.5 megawatts of power was said to have been achieved well below the time of two minutes set by the classification society. "In addition, the trial generation of power for a large Hamburg-based company was already successfully tested in December 2014," said Lehmann and Kuhlmann.

"The overall LNG Hybrid Barge system with gas motors is an impressive technical achievement. The trials were also a milestone for classification," commented Hans J. Gätjens, Vice President Marine at Bureau Veritas, responsible for the Central Europe region. "There is thus nothing standing in the way of the LNG Hybrid Barge's first planned supply of power to cruise ships over the course of May."

The LNG Hybrid Barge was launched in Komarno, Slovakia, at the beginning of September 2014 and was christened the Hummel (or 'Bumblebee' in English) in October following passage to Hamburg.

The Hummel is 77 metres long and 11 metres wide and equipped with five generators with an overall output of 7.5 megawatts (MW), or 50/60 hertz (Hz).

The vessel works like a floating power plant and will enable the heavy-fuel-oil-powered generators on ships to be switched off during layovers at port and result in lower emissions and particulates compared to conventional marine diesel with 0.1 percent sulphur content.

Sulphur oxides and soot particles will no longer be emitted, the emission of nitrogen oxides will be reduced by up to 80 percent and carbon dioxide by 30 percent, according to Becker Marine Systems.