Classification society Lloyd’s Register has signed an agreement with a group of Chinese companies to design and develop the first 220,000-cbm LNG carrier with a GTT Mark III membrane containment system.
The companies include COSCO Shipping LNG Investment, COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry, Jiangnan Shipyard, Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC), Shanghai Ship and Shipping Research Institute (SSSRI) and China Classification Society (CCS), LR said in its statement.
The seven parties will use their expertise, experience and research capabilities to define the ship’s technical specifications and general arrangement of the main systems, to factor in route and capacity requirements.
LR and CCS will provide technical support and consultancy services to ensure that the design meets all international regulations, industry-wide conventions and standards, and that it complies with each society’s classification rules. LR and CCS will also offer technical support for ship-shore matching, focusing particularly at upstream and downstream loading and unloading terminals.
Once the LNG carrier has been designed, LR and CCS will look to grant the design approval in principle, which will further enhance the project partners’ competitiveness in the large LNG carrier market. The parties will conduct hydrodynamic assessments on the design to optimize its performance and plan to continually improve the design.
Zhu Jianzhang , assistant president, MARIC, said, “As global demand for LNG trade continues to grow, the shipping industry will require more LNG carriers, specifically for newbuilding orders. As China’s demand for LNG continues to increase, more Chinese shipowners with need LNG carriers and this JIP will provide our customers with a suitable and competitive design to support their business requirements.”
Jiangnan Shipyard’s chief of global technology, Hu Keyi noted that expanding its LNG solutions would allow the company to support rapid growth in Chinese LNG demand.
“Jiangnan has successfully cooperated with LR and MARIC on an AIP for standard size membrane type LNG carrier ‘LNG Jumbo’, and a joint development project for applying LNG fuel tank on larger container ship. These working arrangements and experience can be replicated on this new project,” Keyi said.