HGK Shipping celebrated the naming ceremony for the gas tanker, “GAS 96”, in Rotterdam on October 9, 2025. This is the third gas tanker that combines optimization for operations in shallow waters with a diesel-electric “future-fuel-ready” drive system for Europe’s largest inland waterway shipping company.
The “GAS 96” will operate on the Rhine routes between Rotterdam, Antwerp and Cologne with immediate effect and transport gases that have been liquefied under pressure for the chemicals group, LyondellBasell (LYB). A long-term charter agreement forms the basis for this.
The “GAS 96” provides four tanks with a total cargo volume of 3,256 cubic meters for transport operations. Developed at HGK Shipping’s Design Center, the vessel is 110 meters long and 15 meters wide. With these parameters, the “GAS 96” is setting new standards for the inland waterway sector.
Thanks to its rudder propellors, the large tanker can also safely maneuver in extreme water level conditions. Even if the draught is only 1.20 meters, it can carry more than 300 tons in order to safeguard reliable supplies, even during challenging weather phases. In ideal water conditions, the maximum tonnage per journey is more than 2,500 tons. After the hull was first completed at Severnav in Romania, the superstructure work recently took place at De Gerlien van Tiem in the Netherlands.
The vessel was named in Rotterdam by Yarelis Hernandez, the LYB Vice President of Global Intermediates & Derivatives Manufacturing, in conjunction with Reverend Daniel Odhiambo and HGK Shipping.