Feature 1 | GREEN SHIPPING
Training key to safe operation of gas fuelled ships
Italian class society RINa (Registro Italiano Navale) says that the drive for lower emissions should not compromise safety. In the LNG industry safety is maintained through proper ship design and crew training and these important factors must be replicated in the use of LNG as a fuel on other ship types.
T
here is no doubt that gas-fuelled ships are one way to reduce air emissions. But gas-fuel opens
up a number of safety questions and it is important to put in place the pragmatic steps needed to ensure
that lower
emissions do not mean less safety. “Gas-fuelled ships are not a new
technology,” says Andrea Cogliolo, Head
of Machinery Sector for
classification society RINa. “But they bring a new mix of technology to people not familiar with the safety culture needed to manage LNG as a fuel. There is nothing new in having liquefied gas on ships, and nothing new in engines which burn gas. Gas carriers have both and gas carriers have one of the very best safety records of all ship types. But we need to take great care when we extend gas power to other ship types. Substantial changes are needed to the structure and outfit
Schematic of engine gas flow.
of the vessel, and the crew need to be trained to understand the new fuel and its risks. Carrying and using gas at sea requires a culture which is present on gas carriers, but which is not found on most other ship types.” According to Cogliolo there are many
advantages in the use of gas as a fuel in terms of reducing air emissions. “The use of natural gas as a fuel provides a 20% reduction in CO2
emissions and
competitive prices at current costs and estimates for the near future, along with the advantages of a total reduction in SOx emissions and a considerable reduction in NOx emissions,” he says. However, he adds: “There is nothing
free in this world. Moving to gas as a fuel has a cost in terms of new outfit, new design, operational flexibility and crew training. All of these issues will be covered in a new IMO Code for Gas Fuelled Ships, but that is not going to be
ready before 2014. We are working with owners and yards which need to know how to tackle gas fuel issues safely now, so we have brought out a new notation and amended our Rules
to provide
guidance on the requirements.” RINa has published a notation GAS FUELLED SHIPS which establishes requirements for the use of liquefied or compressed natural gas (LNG or CNG) onboard ships as an alternative to traditional fuels. It is designed to give the industry a regulatory tool to ensure that the arrangement and installation of onboard machinery using this type of fuel is such as to provide a level of integrity, from the point of view of safety and reliability, equivalent to that of a conventional installation. Recognition that gas as a fuel has a
very much lower flashpoint than marine fuel oils, and also that it is stored as a liquid at very low temperatures or as a
Andrea Cogliolo, Head of Machinery Sector, RINa.
46
The Naval Architect May 2012
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