58
LNG
INDUSTRY
APRIL
2016
shipowners need to be confident that they can purchase and
load the fuel on board safely and efficiently when and where
they need it.
All of the current LNG as fuel projects depend on one-off
LNG bunker arrangements, with fixed suppliers delivering gas
either from fixed terminals or using trucks. To build a wider
and deeper LNG bunker chain (similar to the highly flexible
bunker chain that ship owners using oil can depend on), LNG
needs to be widely available and capable of being loaded
onto ships in a safe and standardised way. Furthermore, the
quality and quantity of the fuel needs to be accurately
measured.
Classification societies play a strong role in helping
develop this bunker chain and facilitating the shift to gas.
They can help develop guidelines and standard safety
procedures, validate measurement protocols, and can carry
out studies and audit the outcomes for determining what is
safe and what is not. They can also work with operators and
shipyards to develop new types of vessels specific to LNG
bunkering, and can ensure that ships are ready when the
economic case for LNG becomes more interesting.
What is needed?
Ships that may switch to LNG fuel in the future need to be
laid out, built and equipped to bunker LNG fuel safely and in
a standardised way. A new breed of small scale LNG tankers,
which can carry large cargoes of LNG for significant distances
and then deliver the fuel quickly and safely to ships, are
also needed. Standards are required for the couplings and
procedures, which will make training in, monitoring of and
the operation of LNG bunkering as simple, safe and routine
as bunkering oil fuel is today. Furthermore, agreement on
measuring and analysing gas bunker quantities and qualities
is needed to allow an open market in LNG as fuel to develop
commercially.
Future-proofing
However, first and foremost, the appropriate vessels need
to be built. Bureau Veritas (BV) has published requirements
for ships that are designed and fitted out for dual-fuel or
LNG fuel propulsion, but which are not initially intended
to use LNG as a fuel. The requirements, which are set out
in Rule Note NR 627 Gas-Prepared Ships, cover special
arrangements for new ships that are designed with specific
arrangements to accommodate the future installation of an
LNG fuel gas system.
Many owners consider that they will switch to LNG as a
fuel in the future, but are not yet ready to make that change.
Therefore, it makes sense to build and lay out ships so that
they can easily be converted in the future. The requirements
of this notation set a benchmark for designers and yards so
that they can ensure that every ship is future-proofed and
able to be easily converted to LNG as a fuel when the market
conditions are right.
Logistics
Transporting LNG to where it is needed and building flexibility
into the LNG as fuel supply chain requires a new breed of
vessel. While bunker oil is widely available from quaysides,
there are currently few LNG terminals that can deliver gas as
fuel, and no ports where LNG delivery is feasible from high
speed fixed installations on the quayside during routine cargo
and passenger operations. So, with a relatively small number
of LNG terminals and a small market of ships for the fuel, the
first movers into the LNG bunker chain will need relatively
large bunker vessels, which can move quickly and cover large
areas.
Before anyone can design and build these vessels, they
have to be sure that they will be safe. This is where
classification societies come in. For instance, BV set out
requirements in Rule Note NR 620 LNG Bunkering Ship,
covering special arrangements for ships carrying LNG that will
transfer that LNG to LNG-fuelled vessels. These rules help
ensure the safe development of this new type of ship.
NR 620 covers the design and installation of the LNG
transfer systems from bunkering ships to the receiving ship,
as well as the vapour transfer system from the receiving ship
to the bunkering ship, including LNG hoses, transfer arms and
auxiliary systems for handling the LNG system. The design
and installation of the equipment intended for boil-off gas
(BOG) management and the gas piping system on the
bunkering ship are also set out. There is a separate section on
safety arrangements.
The first LNG bunker tankers
Rotterdam-based Anthony Veder has built a fleet of highly
flexible small gas carriers under BV class and, although
these are built for LNG/LPG/LEG transport and distribution,
they also have the capacity to act as LNG bunker tankers.
It is likely that the 6500 m
3
Coral Anthelia
will be the first
vessel actually deployed as an LNG bunker tanker, working
on charter to Norway’s Skangas to deliver LNG as fuel in the
Northern North Sea/Baltic areas from 2016.
The first purpose-built LNG bunker tanker is being built to
BV class at Hanjin, South Korea, for a joint venture (JV)
between Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd and
NYK Line, Fluxys, and ENGIE. The vessel will have two Type C
tanks with a capacity of 5000 m
3
of LNG built into a 108 m
hull powered by twin dual-fuel engines, giving it a speed of
approximately 13 knots. A full set of thrusters will make the
vessel highly manoeuvrable and allow it to have a high
bunker delivery rate. There will be an onboard chromatograph
to measure the exact quality and energy content of the gas
delivered.
The vessel is expected to enter into service at the end of
2016 and the first client has already been contracted. United
European Car Carriers (UECC) will use the ENGIE tanker to
Figure 2.
The
Coralius
5800 m
3
LNG bunker tanker being built
to BV class for Skangas.
