Maritime Blue, in collaboration with the Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma, Northwest Seaport Alliance, and American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), is seeking a qualified naval architecture firm to develop design schematics for a methanol bunker barge. A Request for Proposals (RFP), issued on 11 May, invited companies to submit a proposal for the barge, which will be used as the supply ship in a ship-to-ship methanol bunkering exercise during a high level risk assessment workshop planned for September 2026. The design is intended for a desktop exercise to identify operational requirements and safety gaps for green methanol bunkering in the Seattle-Tacoma Gateway. The bunker barge is expected to have a methanol capacity of approximately 30,000 bbls but contractors may propose alternative capacities with justification. The receiving ship for the workshop has not been selected yet, but is anticipated to be a cargo, container, cruise, or ro-ro ship. Maritime Blue said the submission deadline for the proposals is 1 June at 3pm PDT.   Photo credit: Venti Views on Unsplash Published: 29 May, 2026