And here’s another LNG tanker off Mellieha – is it the same one travelling about or is there a nest somewhere?
Published:
March 26, 2014 at 12:18pm
This photograph was also taken this morning, from Mellieha.
It’s the LNG CAPRICORN, 285m long and 42m wide, similar to the one which will be berthed permanently at Marsaxlokk.
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According to the AIS, that’s the Rasheeda LNG tanker (this is the only LNG tanker in the vicinity), the same one spotted earlier.
However, this is what the Rasheeda is supposed to look like according to marinetraffic’s database: http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/photos/of/ships/photo_keywords:9443413/ship_name:RASHEEDA#462371
Can i have your email please
[Daphne – dcgalizia@gmail.com]
I have seen it from Rabat off the Maghtab coast and it was HUGE
Could it well be the LNG GEMINI getting accustomed to the surroundings?
The Gemini has no engines so it cannot navigate under its own steam; it will be towed to Malta. This is its sister ship, the Capricorn.
Daphne, this is a case in point. Such ships are so huge that can be visible from various locations. It is the same ship, the LNG Capricorn.
No, it is the same kind of ship, but not the same ship.
Geographically speaking you cannot get the same full profile view of the ship from Ta’ Giorni and Mellieha Bay.
Same ship – LNG Capricorn. This morning’s photo showed her proceeding to St Paul’s Bay area for a personnel transfer operation.
Looks like a big figolla for Easter.
Kompluta bil-bajd.
The figolla just left Mellieha Bay and is heading south-east.
Exterminate….exterminate…
The way the government is reacting to this tragedy stinks.
Is this some sort of “spot the LNG tanker” competition? What are the prizes? Nofs tuzzana pastizzi tar-Rabat or perhaps an iced bun?
Apparently Jo is installing the LNG Gemini in Marsaxlokk. Meanwhile, someone spotted the LNG Scorpion north of Ta’ Giorni.
My guesstimate is that there must be one for each sign of the zodiac, so there must be another 10 of them.
I am waiting to spot the LNG Virgo.
LNG Scorpion does not exist.
LNG Gemini is currently in Ferrol, Spain.
LNG Taurus is in Senegal.
LNG Capricorn is in Malta somewhere, but not sending signals for position.
Another LNG carrier, the Laieta, was last positioned two days ago in the Sicily Channel, but is not sending signals.
http://www.fleetmon.com
I feel like in a bad C-movie.
OMG, this is turning out to be like the sale of Maltese citizenship to crooks and their family. After the approval of the LNG Gemini by MEPA, they are now bringing in all the family.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-03-26/news/spotted-lng-tanker-gemini-sister-ship-off-maltese-coast-4390092802/
“Spotted: LNG tanker Gemini sister ship off Maltese coast”
‘LNG Capricorn is in Malta somewhere’.
And I thought Mosta had moved this afternoon.
Jozef, Mosta did not move, but are we sure they did not steal the church and cloned it?
My God! Has the island been evacuated in case it explodes?
The forecast for the next few days is a strong southerly. Ships usually take cover outside St. Paul’s Bay/Mellieha area when a strong south wind blows. And this government intends to put that thing EXACTLY in the harbour mouth facing the southerly winds. Mur ifhem.
I read somewhere that the LNG rust bucket which Jo will be mooring in the Marsaxlokk Bay is 40-odd years old.
Isn’t that a return to the Mintoffian mentality of buying second hand junk for public infrastructure?
Reminds me of the Strouger telephone switching system which Mintoff had bought from some African country back in the 1970s. Back then, when you dialled the number of somebody you knew, you would find yourself holding a teleconference with half of Malta.
Qed taraw kif mhux min Marsaxlokk jidhlu dawn it-tip ta’ vapuri? Kellu ragun Jo.
Good-bye Marsaxlokk.
Spring started a few days ago. Maybe it’s the mating season for LNG tankers.
Anyone has a clue as to why the Marsaxlokk residents were shouting and booing during the MEPA sitting? Or it was some rent-a-mob pretending to be Marsaxlokk residents? I’m asking since I can’t find a valid reason for behaving in such manner.
SeaRadar 24 shows LNG Capricorn as sailing off Malta (about 18 miles to the Northeast) on a course of 160 degrees (i.e. towards the Southeast of Malta) with its destination indicated as MALTA OPL.
Its track (presumably during to-day) is shown as commencing from the East/Northeast of Malta, proceeding practically westwards towards Comino and doing a 360 degree turn towards its present position.
The reason for all this maneuvering to-day is known to the tanker’s master, her owners and …….who else?
There is no need for all this transparency (lack thereof) in the creation of this LNG tanker hazard with unseemly haste inside Marsaxlokk harbour.
This unnecessary danger is being created only “in aid of” Joseph Muscat who otherwise would need to resign, to keep his pre-election promise, if he did not succeed to reduce the electricity rates within the next few days.
I suggest that the Maltese nation issue a collective waiver to Muscat exempting him from the ethical need to keep his solemn promise to resign. This would go a long away towards reducing the risk of instant extinction of the population around Marsaxlokk Bay and of the power supply to the whole island.
Let us be blunt. if the Hon Minister Mallia did not keep his promise to resign if the IIP scheme was tied up with a Malta residence of even one day it would be foolish to expect his chief, the Hon Prime Minister, to resign if the Maltese were not provided with cheap electricity by the end of this month.
Resignation is not in the Labour lexicon, dictionary, vocabulary. There is only the deep regret of the Minister of Education who publicly expresses his opinion of “Shame, the culture of resignation has not shed roots in this country.” If only it did who would be the first to go ?
This is the movement.
It is the same ship.
http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:14.9055/centery:35.94517/zoom:8/mmsi:538001387
LNG Gemini and LNG Capricorn are sister ships, built by the same yard in the States and owned by the same German company. They were also built in the same year some 40 odd years ago.
There were 9 LNG carriers originally built by the GD Quincy shipyard between 1977 and 1980. The shipyard went bankrupt a couple of years after.
These were Aries, Capricorn, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Taurus, Virgo and finally Abuja and Edo.
Some have been scrapped or are lying idle and a couple have been converted to FSRUs.
Ma tafux li issa gej l-Ghid? Dak figolla bil-bajd b’kollox, ghal wahda, tnejn, tlieta erba’ jekk mhux hamsa. L-Ghid it-tajjeb.
I know that ship well. I help build it in the 70s, good to see it still in service after all the years.