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A barge powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) is due to be christened later this month at the port of Rotterdam.

The 110-metre bunker tanker, Argonon [pictured], is said to be Europe's first inland vessel to be propelled by a mixture of LNG and marine gas oil. The ship is powerered by two dual-fuel 1521-horsepower engines, which run on 20 percent marine gas oil (MGO) and 80 percent natural gas.

The MGO/LNG mixture will emit significantly less CO2, SOx and NOx and almost no particulate matter (PM10) will be emitted at all.

The vessel has a cargo capacity of 6,100 metric tonnes and LNG to power the barge is stored in a 40 m3 cryogenic tank.

Construction of the Argonon was commissioned by Dutch firm Deen Shipping. The barge is scheduled to be christened on Friday 25th November, after which it will mainly be used to bunker ocean-going ships in the port of Rotterdam.

A pdf file on the vessel can be found at the following address:

http://www.deenshipping.com/files/documents/ArgononPressMap1.pdf