LNG vessel is expected to return Tuesday
The clash over whether the LNG carrier AMUR RIVER can enter New Fortress Energy’s terminal in San Juan has escalated sharply as the harbor pilots told the federal court that NFEnergia LLC has still not produced the berth‑specific Coast Guard authorization the judge required.
Their filing, submitted late Sunday, portrays a company unable to show that the vessel fits its berth without intruding into the federal channel, and unable to document any written concurrence from the Captain of the Port allowing a ship wider than the dimensions evaluated for the terminal.
In their narrative to the court, the San Juan Bay Pilots explained that the documents NFE produced on Sunday, including the vessel’s Certificate of Compliance and Port State Control report, certify only the AMUR RIVER’s condition and equipment. They do not address the terminal, the berth pocket, or the harbor’s channels. The pilots emphasized that the Coast Guard’s Letter of Recommendation, which governs LNG operations at the terminal, presumes that calling vessels will not exceed certain dimensions unless the Captain of the Port explicitly concurs. The AMUR RIVER’s beam is 44.24 meters, nearly a meter wider than the 43.40‑meter breadth evaluated for NFE’s operations. No writing authorizing that deviation has been produced.
The pilots also pointed to NFE’s own written statements, provided by email, acknowledging that its drawings do not depict the edge of the channel and that the company is not in a position to state the distance from the wharf to the Army Terminal Turning Basin. The Coast Guard’s analysis, already in the court record, places vessels of the size listed in Table 1 roughly two feet from the channel when moored. Because AMUR RIVER is wider than those vessels, the pilots argue that NFE has not shown how it would avoid occupying part of the channel, a configuration the Letter of Recommendation expressly presumes NFE will not use.
Their filing also faults NFE’s production of Coast Guard communications as incomplete. Several referenced documents were missing, including the Subchapter O Endorsement tied to the Certificate of Compliance, attachments containing the ship’s particulars, details omitted from emails produced in blank form, and any record of phone calls between the vessel’s agent and the Coast Guard. The pilots noted that NFE produced no communication between the company and the Captain of the Port addressing the berth, vessel dimensions, or the Letter of Recommendation, and submitted no declaration of completeness as required by the court.
Early Monday, however, NFE responded with urgency. In a motion filed before noon, the company asked the court for permission to submit a reply, arguing that the pilots’ Sunday filing introduced new information that NFE had never seen: daily Coast Guard “Cleared Vessels Lists” sent to the pilots’ dispatch. According to the pilots, those lists showed the AMUR RIVER as screened and cleared “pending port conditions” from September 16 through September 20. NFE told the court that this information bears directly on the question Judge Silvia Carreño‑Coll asked the parties to address, which is whether the Coast Guard has authorized the vessel’s entry, and that the company should be allowed to respond before the court rules on whether to lift the interim measures.
NFE stressed the urgency of the matter, noting that the AMUR RIVER is expected to return to San Juan on or about Tuesday, September 29, and that the interim restrictions currently prevent her entry. The pilots, for their part, maintain that the measures should remain in place until NFE produces the berth‑specific authorization required by the Coast Guard’s Letter of Recommendation or meets the alternative conditions the court has set.
Meanwhile, the governor has said her administration will sue to force Genera to seek an alternate fuel provider that can use NFE facilities by paying a tolling fee. Nonetheless, NFE said Monday it will not allow its facilities to be used by an alternate fuel supplier.
