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Titan LNG has entered the construction phase for Europe's first LNG bunkering pontoon, the FlexFueler, after a manufacturing consortium led by Kooiman Marine Group committed to the project.

Titan LNG's marine commercial director, Michael Schaap, informed Bunker Index on Thursday that the vessel's construction is effectively already under way as "all steel has been ordered".

The pontoon has been granted principal design approval by Bureau Veritas, whilst head contractor Kooiman Marine Group, together with subcontractors Marine Services Noord and Cryovat International, will be responsible for building the landmark delivery vessel.

Commenting on the construction team, Titan LNG's COO, Ronald van Selm, said: "We are very content with this consortium as each party is an evident leader in its own field. Furthermore, they have successfully cooperated in the past already. This will significantly decrease risk during the building period."

The pontoon will be stationed at the port of Amsterdam, where it will serve as a stationary delivery location for inland water barges and small seagoing vessels.

The FlexFueler will also be deployed to supply alongside larger vessels requiring bunkers whilst loading and discharging cargo throughout the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) region.

Titan LNG had previously stated that the FlexFueler would initially be outfitted with two 380-cubic-metre (cbm) tanks, with the option to add two further tanks in line with increasing demand, but the company explained in its latest update that the vessel would now include four tanks from the outset.

Schaap remarked: "Due to the substantial increase in upcoming demand for LNG as a bunker fuel in the ARA region, we had the opportunity to outfit the pontoon directly with four tanks. It was an easy trade-off between [being] slightly deferred and reaching maximum capacity of 1,480 cbm from the start directly."

Rinus Kooiman, general manager of Kooiman Marine Group, said: "To us, the FlexFueler is the logical last-mile solution for in-port operations. It copies the usual modus of operations in the existing bunkering market, paramount for adoption by ship owners."

Niek Koops, general manager of Marine Services Noord, commented: "Over the last months, we have worked very closely with Titan's engineers in order to design a compliant and practical LNG bunkering system and added our maritime piping experience to the initial process design. We cannot wait to bring the system into operation."

Wim van Rootselaar, director of Cryovat International, said: "Cryovat has built most of the LNG fuel tanks in our region and we are very content that we are involved in this project."