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LNG Shipping at 50|LNG today and tomorrow Coastal LNGCs come into their own Only a decade old, coastal LNG carriers are poised to help a major extension of the LNG supply chain at the small-scale end of the spectrum The delivery of the 6,500m 3 Coral Anthelia to Anthony Veder and the 2,500m 3 Kakayu Maru to Tsurumi in 2013 raised the complement of coastal LNG carriers worldwide to 16 vessels. Another four such ships are on order, all building in China and earmarked for gas distribution duties along the country’s long coastline. Three of the vessels are in the 28–30,000m 3 size range and, on delivery in 2015, will be the largest coastal LNG carriers yet built. This fleet of small-scale LNG carriers is only a decade old. It has emerged to facilitate the extension of the LNG supply chain and to bring the benefits of this clean-burning, competitively priced fuel to a much wider range of customers. The main market drivers for small-scale LNG are the growing use of gas as marine fuel and the need to supply remote residential communities, power stations and commercial ventures not connected to the pipeline grid. Predicting the size of the coastal LNG carrier fleet 10 years hence and the pace at which it will grow pose challenges but it is safe to say that the influence being exerted by the current market drivers will continue to strengthen. New delivery routes, terminal facilities, bunker depots and fuelling stations are being developed and naval architects’ drawing boards around the world are filling up with coastal LNGC design concepts. A number of newbuilding projects have been mooted and several are poised to materialise. All the coastal LNG carriers built to date have IMO Type C insulated, pressure vessel cargo tanks fitted horizontally in the vessel. The Type C tanks are either cylindrical or bilobe in shape and stainless steel and aluminium have been used as tank materials. With Type C tanks there is no need for the cargo containment system to have a secondary barrier. Ship designs with alternative containment systems, including GTT membrane tanks, have been developed but as yet only Type C tanks have been specified. Various types of propulsion system have been utilised on small-scale LNG carriers, including dual-fuel arrangements which enable the use of cargo boil-off gas as vessel fuel. When dual-fuel plant is specified, back-up arrangements, such as a reliquefaction plant or gas combustion unit, must be in place either to handle excess boil-off gas or for emergencies when there are problems with the propulsion system. While the new reality of an extended LNG supply chain is getting closer, there are still parts of the existing coastal LNG carrier fleet that are not fully employed in the trade. Eight of the ships are designed as multipurpose gas carriers, with the ability to carry ethylene and LPG as well as LNG. This flexibility has helped the operators achieve high utilisation rates for the vessels until that time they are needed for LNG distribution duties. The current strength of the ethylene trades has been a boon in this respect. The largest of the coastal LNG carriers currently in service, the 15,600m 3 Coral Energy, is fully dedicated to the trade. The vessel was built by Neptun Werft of Rostock in Germany, part of the Meyer Group, for Anthony Veder, and Skangass, the vessel’s long-term charterer, worked closely with the principals in the design of the vessel. The ability to load LNG at large terminals and deliver cargoes to all sizes of terminals by means of a dual manifold arrangement was a key design consideration. Anthony Veder describes Coral Energy as the world’s first direct-drive, dual-fuel, ice-class 1A LNG carrier. The ship’s Wärtsilä dual-fuel engine is linked directly to the propeller, thus avoiding the power losses that can arise with diesel-electric drive systems. The 1A ice class rating means that the vessel will be able to function in the Baltic Sea throughout the winter months. Coral Energy has been delivering cargoes loaded at the Skangass liquefaction plant in Stavanger’s Risavika harbour to receiving terminals at Fredrikstad in Norway and Nynäshamn in Sweden. Until the European LNG distribution and bunkering markets get up to speed the Risavika plant has spare capacity, and Coral Energy has also been facilitating product sales by transporting LNG offered by Skangass on the spot market. IM Skaugen operates four LNG Coral Energy loads LNG at the Skangass terminal in Stavanger’s Risavika harbour 106 I LNG shipping at 50 A SIGTTO/GIIGNL commemorative issue
carriers of 10,000m 3 and two of 12,000m 3 as part of its Norgas fleet. All six ships are able to carry ethylene and LPG as well as LNG and have been primarily employed in the petrochemical gas trades since their delivery from Chinese shipyards over the 2009-11 period. The vessels have conventional propulsion systems and are fitted with a new type of reliquefaction plant developed to handle LNG boil-off gas. One of the Skaugen vessels, the 10,000m 3 Norgas Innovation, had a taste of things to come when it delivered a domestic Chinese LNG cargo recently. The shipment was transported from the Dalian import terminal in northern China to the Jovo Group’s new LNG terminal in the southern port of Dongguan in Guangdong province. The Jovo terminal, which features two 80,000m 3 storage tanks, is China’s second coastal LNG receiving terminal. A third small-scale terminal is under construction and proposals have been tabled for an additional eight such facilities in China. Both Jovo and the operator of the Dalian terminal are affiliates of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC). IM Skaugen is reported to be considering contracting up to four additional LNG/ethylene/LPG carriers in China. A 17,000m 3 cargo-carrying capacity has been mooted for the new vessels, as has been the ability to run the ships on LNG cargo boil-off gas. Bijlsma, a member of the Veka Group in the Netherlands, built the 1,100m 3 Pioneer Knutsen, the smallest coastal LNG carrier, in 2004. That vessel, which is fitted with a dual-fuel propulsion system, has performed non-stop LNG distribution services along the Norwegian coast on charter to Gasnor over the past 10 years. Veka has devoted time to developing its LNG vessel design portfolio in recent years and is now marketing its concepts for an inland waterway LNG carrier, a coastal LNG carrier and a seagoing LNG bunkering vessel also able to transport oil fuel bunkers. The coastal LNG carrier design features two Type C cargo tanks of 2,000m 3 each. TGE Marine of Bonn in Germany is another company which has developed a portfolio of LNG distribution vessel designs based on the use of Type C tanks. TGE Marine is supplying the bilobe cargo tanks and cargo-handling plant for the three 28–30,000m 3 coastal LNG carriers building in China. The TGE package comes complete with tank supports that have been redesigned in order to accommodate cargo tank expansion and shrinkage due to temperature variations. Japan has five 2,500m 3 coastal LNG carriers in service, all built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and all engaged in loading cargoes at certain of the country’s import terminals for distribution to the smaller regional terminals in locations where the demand for gas is more limited. Two of the vessels are engaged in transporting LNG in the Seto Inland Sea area in southern Japan while the remaining three load cargoes supplied by Tokyo Gas at the Sodegaura terminal in Tokyo Bay for the 850km run up the country’s northeastern coast to Hachinohe and Hakodate. All the ships are fitted with a pair of aluminium Type C tanks covered with 330mm of Kawasaki Panel insulation and are powered by conventional diesel engines. The containment system design accommodates pressure build-up during the course of the short voyages. The tanks have a design pressure of 3 barg (3,100 kPa) and are able to contain all the cargo boil-off gas that is generated. Voyages to Hakodate take around 48 hours, which is well within the tanks’ seven-day design allowance before venting is required. Japan is now looking beyond this fleet to its future small-scale needs and is considering larger capacity vessels for ‘milk run’ distribution operations as well as LNG bunker vessels. As the builder of all the country’s small-scale LNG tankers to date, KHI is leading the design review and amongst the options under consideration is the use of LNGfuelled vessels. Capacities up to 10,000m 3 are being considered for the milk run LNG carriers while a design for a 6,000m 3 LNG bunker vessel has also been developed by the shipbuilder. The milk run distribution tanker would be engaged on somewhat longer voyages, so the pressure buildup would be greater than that on the existing ships. KHI reports that a 6,000m 3 Type C aluminium cargo tank with a design pressure of 8 barg (8,100 kPa) is feasible as an alternative. The option of going for tanks with a lower design pressure and burning boiloff gas in the ship’s propulsion system comes with the challenges of finding the necessary skilled engineering officers to man the ships and designing a scaleddown gas combustion unit for any excess boil-off gas that might be generated on the ship. The gas shipping sector has been able to utilise the expertise gained in the design and construction of ethylene carriers in the initial designs for coastal LNG carriers. Indeed onehalf of the small-scale LNG carriers are multipurpose vessels with the ability to also carry ethylene. The industry has also tackled the challenges associated with the design of larger cargo tanks and the handling of boil-off gas in relation to the fuel needs of the propulsion system. The scene is set for a flourishing of smallscale LNG shipping. MC Japan is considering its further small-scale LNGC needs and the applicability of the design features of its existing 2,500m 3 series A SIGTTO/GIIGNL commemorative issue LNG shipping at 50 I 107
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LNG SHIPPING AT 50 SIGTTO at 35 & G
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Fifty years ago, Shell was proud to
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Grain LNG Terminal of choice for LN
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LNG Shipping at 50|the early years
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Höegh LNG is listed on the Oslo st
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the early years|LNG Shipping at 50
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SOLUTIONS GTT, with over 50 years o
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project owed much to the teamwork b
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and buyers in the US. Algeria later
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Brunei targets its own 50th anniver
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early history|LNG Shipping at 50 co
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application of insulation. Each sph
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Cavalcade of LNG non-starters Few i
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Integrated marine services to LNG,
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After launching his own ship design
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Over 50 years of global gas leaders
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Pythagore, was completed by Atelier
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esearchers had been promoting membr
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LNG Shipping at 50|the pioneers Whe
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Today’s LPG and ethylene carriers
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LNG Shipping at 50|LPG carriers and
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Celebrating 50 years of LNG safety
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Page 58 and 59: LNG Shipping at 50|the safety regim
Page 64 and 65: 2014 STATUS FOR LNG AS SHIP FUEL DN
Page 68 and 69: Access our extensive LNG expertise
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Page 79 and 80: onboard LNG vessels and within term
Page 81 and 82: the middle years|LNG Shipping at 50
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Page 112 and 113: New horizons beckon for the LNG shi
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GS48A

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