Finland based, Deltamarin announced that it cooperate with Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT), an engineering company involved in membrane containment systems for transport and storage of LNG, in order to enable the use of LNG for long ocean voyages.
The two companies created a portfolio of cargo and passenger vessels, aiming to save cargo space compared to classic cylindrical-type LNG tank solutions and to enable the use of LNG for long ocean voyages. The portfolio includes a container vessel, a pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) and a cruise ship.
These ships were equipped with a modularised GTT membrane tank type solution, with one or multiple tanks being able to be integrated into the vessel.
This means that vessels sailing in intra-Asian, intra-European or intra-American trade loops, can conduct their trips with just one bunkering operation.
During the research for the project, the results indicated that only 60% of the LNG capacity provided by membrane technology could be used in the same space, when using an optimised bi-lobe C-type tank solution.
“From a Net Percent Value (NPV) point of view, the LNG membrane solution offers the highest value of all options over the ten-year period. This is due to the savings made by both, in LNG fuel price and efficient use of hull volume for LNG fuel tanks. Compared to Type-C tank solution, a significant amount of valuable cargo space inside the hull can be saved. The HFO option also has moderate fuel costs but is penalised because of the extra power and sludge handling required by the scrubber operation. With the fuel price scenario used, operating with MGO almost doubles the operating cost over 10 years compared to LNG options,” Deltmarin said.