Bureau Veritas has published requirements for ships which are designed and fitted out for dual-fuel or LNG fuel propulsion but which are not initially intended to use gas as a fuel.
The requirements, set out in Rule Note NR 627 Gas-Prepared Ships, cover special arrangements for new ships that are designed with specific arrangements to accommodate future installation of an LNG fuel gas system, the classification society informed in a statement.
Jean-Francois Segretain, Technical Director, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore Division , says, “Many owners consider that they will switch to LNG as a fuel in the future, but are not yet ready to make that change. It makes sense to build and lay out ships so they can easily be converted in the future.”
According to the rule note, the initial design of the ship must accommodate the future installation of LNG bunkering station, LNG storage tanks, fuel gas handling system, ventilation systems, GVU, GCU and vent mast.
Vessels meeting the standards will be awarded the notation Gas-Prepared.
The notation may be modified with the addition of:
• S when specific arrangements are implemented for the ship structure; • P when specific arrangements are implemented for piping; • ME-DF when the main engine(s) is (are) of the dual-fuel type; • AEB when the auxiliary engines and oil-fired boilers are either of the dual fuel type, or designed for future conversion to dual fuel operation.
[mappress mapid=”17733″]
Image: Bureau Veritas