Report by the Swedish Marine Forum
A document entitled as ‘LNG Ship to ship bunkering procedure’ provides a procedural description of how LNG bunkering between two ships should be done. The document is the result of the joint venture project “LNG bunkering Ship to Ship”, a technologydevelopment project carried out by Swedish Marine Technology Forum, FKAB Marine Design,Linde Cryo AB, Det Norske Veritas AS (DNV), LNG GOT and White Smoke AB.
LNG bunkering ship to ship in port with demands for short operation time have not been performed before and this procedure has been worked out to handle the specific details of this operation in a safe way. The procedure is made for ship to ship bunkering of LNG in a port environment, with a dedicated bunker ship rapidly delivering the fuel to client ships while cargo and passenger handlings is still in progress.
The project has developed a LNG bunkering concept that encompasses both the operational bunkeringprocess and technical solutions needed for ship to ship bunkering of LNG.The conclusion of this study is that LNG bunkering ship to ship is indeed a suitable solution to provideenvironmentally friendly bunker fuel to larger ships.The concept is accepted and approved in principle by DNV.
LNG Bunker Ship (Image credit: LNG ship to ship bunering procedure study)
LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) as ship fuel is a good option to meet future regulations regarding SOx andNOx emissions set up by international authorities. In 2015 the allowed SOx (Sulphur oxides) emissionsfrom ships sailing within ECA (Emission Control Area) will drastically be reduced. Since the sulphurcomes purely out of the fuel, a change of fuel away from high sulphur fuels or a change to LNG will solvethis problem. Low sulphur fuels will then most probably be more sought after and therefore possibly morecostly, which will make LNG even more interesting as bunker fuel. Then in 2016 the new NOx rules are put into force by the IMO (International Maritime Organization),which means very low levels of NOx emissions are allowed, the so called Tier III levels. This regulationonly concerns ships built after the new regulations are put into force. With LNG as fuel it is possible tocomply with these rules.The environmental benefits of LNG are even higher than the aforementioned requirements |
Safety is of great importance for the use of LNG as a bunker fuel. As a point of departure the project group carried out a hazard identification workshop (HAZID) led by DN which identified the different risks that should be accounted for and taken care of during a LNG ship to ship bunkering procedure.
The main aim with this project has been to establish a safe and time efficient ship to ship bunkering procedure for LNG, encompassing the entire bunkering operation, with both the operational bunkeringprocess and the technical solutions that are needed. The bunkering procedure presented in the text belowmeets this requirement and the complete concept is accepted and approved in principle by DNV.
This procedural description over the LNG ship to ship bunkering can be used by authorities and others as input to regulation and guideline work concerning LNG bunkering. The project has already been acknowledged by Swedish authorities who will use it as input to their work. GL has also showed interest in the project
This study shows that LNG bunkering ship to ship is indeed a suitable solution to provide environmentally friendly bunker fuel to larger ships which hopefully wll open for more utilization of LNG in shipping.
LNG bunkering ship to ship procedure This procedure is made for ship to ship beunkering of LNG in a port environment, with a dedicated bunker ship delivering the fuel to client ships. The procedure is based on existing guidelines for LNG and petroleum ship-to-ship transfers together with the result from the HAZID exercise and risk assessment. The procedure is divided into chaperts in the document as follows
The procedure is made for both transfer of liquefied gases for propulsion purposes (LNG) and petroleum,simultaneously or one fuel only. The parts of the procedure which are specific for LNG, or for petroleum,are clearly marked in the caption to each sub-chapter. This is a general description of a bunkering process and can only be used as a guideline for future bunkering projects. |
Please click at image below to enlarge to view the LNG Bunkering Ship to Ship Flow Diagram (credit:LNG ship to ship bunering procedure study page 60)
LNG Bukering STS Flow Diagram
For additional information, please read the study