LNG tanker destined for Delimara plant leaves Singapore

The Armada LNG Mediterrana, the LNG tanker – or floating storage unit – that is to be berthed outside Marsaxlokk and used at the new gas-fired power plant in Delimara, left Singapore Monday morning headed to Sri Lanka.

This is the first part of 5,900km journey across the Arabian Sea, before travelling up the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to enter the Mediterranean before heading west to Malta.

The vessel was loaded in the last  24 hours, following a short trial at sea.

The tanker – formerly the Wakaba Maru, registered in Nassau – was built in 1985 and is 283m long with an extreme breadth of 44.8m.

It has a gross tonnage of 125,000 tonnes and is designated as a Tanker – Hazard A (Major) vessel type.

On August 1, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and minister without portfolio Konrad Mizzi, went to Singapore to preside over the official launching cermeony of the tanker.

It was then announced that the tanker was expected to reach Malta in September, but that date is expected to be missed considering the vessel’s top speed of around 11.5 knots makes the trip from Singapore to Malta a 21-day journey without any stops.

That would put the LNG tanker reaching Malta around 4 October.

Muscat had said the LNG tanker at Birzebbugia would be used for a limited time until Malta would have its gas pipeline with Italy in place.