Feature 1 | CHINA The great LNG rush
At least three other yards are set to join Hudong-Zhonghua building gas ships in the near future reports Sam Chambers
C
hina is radically altering its energy mix to be more environmentally friendly. Coal will still be king in
the nation with the largest coal reserves in the world, but alternative sources of fuel are being sought – none more aggressively than liquefied natural gas (LNG). And with contracts being sealed across the world, especially in Australia, for big gas contracts, the People’s Republic will need to build a vast fleet of LNG carriers in the coming eight years. Natural gas consumption in China was 131.7 billion m3
in 2011, more than five
times greater than the 2000 figure of 24.5 billion m3
. However, consumption levels are
predicted to leap even higher to reach 375 billion m3
by 2020, according to a recent
report by energy industry analysis firm GlobalData. Te International Energy Agency (IEA)
states China will double its natural gas consumption over the next five years China has five LNG terminals already, with another nine under construction, and as many as 10 more planned further down the line. Latest statistics show that as of the end
of May there were 372 LNG ships afloat around the world with another 68 on order.
William Sember, vice president of global
gas development for US classification society, ABS, reckons: “By 2020 there will need to be another 140 built with as many as 60 to be built in China.” Shanghai’s Hudong-Zhonghua started
be delivered,
researching LNG carrier design and manufacturing technology in 1997. In 2003, the yard, part of state-run China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC), received its first order to build LNG carriers from China Ocean Shipping (Cosco) and China Merchants Group for importing gas from Australia’s North West Shelf to Dapeng Bay, China’s first LNG receiving terminal, near Shenzhen, in southern Guangdong province. Dapeng Sun was the first vessel to in early April, 2008.
It
was delivered late and had a number of technical issues in its first months of operations. Since then, however, the yard has become
far better at building these technically demanding ships. The yard has built and delivered five 147,000m3
LNG carriers with GTT No.96
membrane containment systems to date and has a sixth vessel of similar size under construction for delivery later this year.
In July 2011 Hudong-Zhonghua signed
deals worth US$880 million to build four LNG carriers for joint venture firms formed by Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and China Shipping Development. Each of the 172,000m3
LNG carriers
will transport ExxonMobil LNG from Australia
and Papua New Guinea
to China. MOL is sending 50 technicians to the
yard and ExxonMobil another 30 to help the construction of these ships. Te four LNG carriers are expected to
be delivered between 2015 and 2016. George Wang, senior managing
principal engineer at ABS, notes: “Hudong’s first set of LNG ships was a collective effort for the design. This current series is developed mostly by themselves.”
Steel cutting about to start for the first vessel Both the first and second set of ships Hudong is involved in use the comparatively old propulsion technology of a low speed propulsion system with a reliquefaction plant. Koreans, the market leaders in LNG ship construction, increasingly use dual fuel diesel (DFD) engines.
Dapeng Sun was the first LNG vessel delivered from CSSC, but the ship was beset with technical issues
56
The Naval Architect September 2012
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