MOL’s newbuildings are project specific and were


ordered against contracted volumes, Carr says. Te new ships are 172,000m3


band where you are seeing a lot of the recent orders”. Vessels over the 165,000-175,000m3


which Carr describes as the “upper range could result


in issues like terminal compatibility and space in storage tanks ashore becoming concerns. Going smaller is also an option. MOL has two ships


that it co-owns with Sonatrach, which are 75,000m3 and deployed in the Mediterranean, serving the smaller terminals. Tey are specifically built for the trade. “If the trade needs it, someone will do it, but we are also seeing people beginning to talk about building small LNG receiving facilities for small power generation needs”, he says. “Tose people don’t have the demand at this stage to take a big ship. Tere is some interest in having smaller ships to feed those particular trades”. One issue that Carr raises is new developments in


containment systems to reduce boil off with GTT and Samsung designs where boil off is almost 30% down on current figures. MOL has ordered a ship in Japan where the boil off is almost 50% down, he says. One problem Carr highlights is the switch over to diesel


engines. While these may be more thermally efficient, with shiſting trading patterns there are now vessels that have been designed to go 19-20knots going at 16-17knots. “If you have conventional boil off of 0.15% per day you can find yourself in a position where you have too much fuel. Now you have ships that are going in lots of different areas and depending on the date the cargo is needed they maynot need to go at full speed. “As engines are more efficient, you have a situation


where the fuel is being wasted and you have more boil off than you need to go at the speed you have to go at”. Te solution, he says, is to reduce the boil off and if more gas is needed then a forcing vaporiser can be used. According to RS Platou partner Keith Bainbridge,


the distance for shipping LNG has widened and, taking into account boil off, could mean a loss of 6-7% of the cargo en route. Shipyard capacity for building LNG ships is not an


issue according to Bainbridge. Korea’s main yards of HHI, SHI and DSME can each build about 12-13 vessels per year, STX can build up to five vessels per year, with Japanese output of about nine vessels, in addition to Chinese production. In giving an indication of the rate of progress, he told a recent meeting of the London Shipping Law Centre that while Korea in 2001 had never built a LNG vessel for export, by 2006 they had built 17 ships. Te three big yards in Korea have 85-86% of the market. In considering how floating LNG will affect LNG


ship design, Bainbridge said that for jetty based projects there would be no impact and vessels will load in the conventional manner. However, for offshore installations there were a number of considerations including sloshing – using moss tanks or strength-


The Naval Architect October 2012


ened membrane tanks might be required – bow loading, with its associated risk, the need for dynamic positioning when manoeuvring ships in open water. So far, he said, yards have been reluctant to quote on bow loading and dynamic positioning as this required project specific information. Te question remained as to how much owners were willing to pay for flexibility. A large number of the LNG newbuildings on order


are for new entrants to the market or speculators, Bainbridge said. He believed that from 2014 onwards there will be more LNG ships than there is product and therefore prices will come down. Prices could also be affected by the number of new ships coming in without contracts. As the demands of new environment regulations


begin to bite, owners and operators are increasingly looking to LNG as the fuel of the future. The number of LNG newbuildings on order is


testament to the interest being taken in this sector. Sinopec and China Shipping Group have recently signed an order for four LNG ships, with options for a further two. Te 174,000m3


, dual-fuel diesel-electric


(DFDE) vessels will be built at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding with delivery starting in 2015. Tanker owners like Tsakos have also indicated that


they are interested in expanding their activities in the segment ,including a sizable proportion of new players. If much has been made about the development of


LNG in the future, crew training by new entrants into LNG business _ many of the newbuildings are for companies that do not have experience in the market _ will be vital if quality standards onboard LNG ships are to be maintained. As the sector expands rapidly, where are the specialist personnel to come from? MOL, for example, sources its officers from Europe and India, with Filipino ratings. According to Carr, pressure needs to be maintained


on new players in the LNG market to conform with industry standards on safety in an industry that has a very good track record. As long as the industry does not accept substandard operations, standards will remain high. Shortage of skilled personnel in the LNG sector is


also obviously a problem at sea and on land, and the situation in Australia, which is set to become a major exporter of LNG for the future, was outlined in a recent report by consultancy Harrier which urged a longer term approach to hiring skilled personnel. Te issue was on the agenda at a resource industry


forum held in Queensland recently, when Australian Mining and Metals Association executive director Minna Knight warned of skill shortages in the state. Other problems she raised included workplace relations, new developments in health and safety and fly-in/fly-out practices aimed at reducing pressure due to skill shortages. NA


13


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