FueLNG, a joint venture between Keppel Offshore & Marine and Shell Eastern Petroleum held a virtual naming ceremony on Thursday for the vessel, FueLNG Bellina.
The 7,500 cubic metres vessel is due to arrive in Singapore later this year from Keppel's shipyard in China.
The ship's first contracts will be to provide ship-to-ship LNG bunkering to Shell-chartered tankers and for one of German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd's container vessels, the joint venture partners said in a statement on Thursday.
"It is our next step towards regular ship-to-ship LNG bunkering activities in Singapore," said Chee Hong Tat, Singapore's senior minister of state for the Ministry of Transport.
"As we progress towards a low-carbon future, we will intensify our efforts to develop the Port of Singapore into a global LNG bunkering hub."
The shipping industry has been under pressure to reduce carbon emissions, after also introducing new rules this year to cut the sulphur content in marine fuels, also known as bunker fuels. This in turn is prompting demand from tanker operators and cruise liners for LNG as a bunker fuel.
Singapore, the world's largest marine refuelling, or bunkering, hub has been expanding its LNG infrastructure by increasing storage capacity and also adding the capability to break up big cargoes into smaller ones.
Keppel, Shell and FueLNG Keppel are also setting up a dedicated LNG bunkering facility, which is expected to be operational by end of next year, and will be the first in Singapore.
FueLNG will provide LNG bunker to receiving vessels such as harbour crafts and small vessels from that facility, which will be built by Keppel, with Shell supplying the LNG to it, they said.
