A new breed of ship has successfully transferred liquefied natural gas fuel to one of the world’s first LNG-fuelled cruise ships.

The Kairos, which is managed by a company with offices in Bermuda, carried out the transfer at a port in Germany.

It is the first gas fuel-supply vessel to join the ships managed by Bernhard Schulte, which is a presence in Bermuda through the Par-la-Ville Road offices of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (Bermuda).

LNG is viewed as a major fuel choice for the next 40 years, and one of its possible uses is as a less environmentally damaging propulsion fuel for ships.

The Kairos can carry 7,500 cubic metres of LNG as cargo for power companies and to deliver as fuel to other ships.

It conducted the initial ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation for the newly built cruise ship Iona, which is to be part of Carnival Corporation’s P&O Cruises fleet.

The fuel transfer took place at a shipyard in Bremerhaven last month.

The supply ship is owned by Nordic energy company Gasum, which took over Hamburg-based LNG supplier Nauticor’s marine bunkering business in April.