The Netherlands: VEKA Is Ready for LNG

After having designed an LNG inland shipping tanker with a capacity of 2.250 cubic meters, VEKA Group is ready for the future.

“The GATE-terminal on the Rotterdam Maasvlakte is the first and up to now the only LNG import terminal in the Netherlands”, project manager Wout van Wijnen says. “We expect that in the years ahead a number of smaller terminals will be built upstream the rivers Rhine and Danube. To supply these terminals, LNG inland shipping tankers are required, which VEKA can deliver.”

Use of ‘Boil off’
A special feature of the LNG inland shipping tanker now under development is the very low ‘boil off’. “LNG is fluid at a temperature of minus 162ºC, and as soon as it warms up, it becomes gaseous”, explains Van Wijnen. “When the cargo tanks are equipped with the correct isolation we can reduce the amount of ‘boil off’ so that daily no more than about 0, 2% of the liquid cargo is being transformed into gas. This gas can be used for the conversion into energy for the propulsion of the tanker as well as the electricity on board.”

The preparations to realize this are in full swing, but the official regulations for LNG as cargo have not yet been drawn up. “As soon as more is known about this, we can start building the first LNG inland shipping tanker”, Van Wijnen says. “It is our goal that this tanker can be completed by mid-2015.” As soon as the first LNG inland shipping tanker has been delivered, VEKA has a complete range of LNG ships available for its customers. VEKA has also developed sea going LNG tankers in various sizes.

Small and flexible
The LNG tankers and bunker tankers will be available in various designs. “Each version will be developed optimally for the planned areas of operation. In the very near future large and small tankers and bunker tankers will be required. The tanker we are developing now, measuring 86 by 10, 5 meters with a loading capacity of 2.250 cubic meters, can be deployed almost everywhere. We also have a ready design for a LNG inland shipping tanker with a capacity of 3.000 cubic meters. This tanker, measuring 125 by 11,45 meters, is small and narrow enough to be able to go upstream the river Rhine as far as  Basel”, Van Wijnen explains.

Extensive experience with LNG
VEKA Group has more than ten years experience with the development and construction of LNG ships. In 2003 the company delivered her first seagoing LNG tanker: the Pioneer Knutsen with two LNG cargo tanks of each 550 cubic meters. Last year VEKA Group developed three LNG ships:

• a seagoing transport vessel with two LNG cargo tanks of each 2.000 cubic meters;
• a seagoing Combi tanker with one LNG cargo tank of 2.000 cubic meters and four HFO (heavy fuel oil), two MDO (marine diesel oil) and two MGO (marine gas oil) tanks with a total capacity of about 2.960 cubic meters;
• an inland waterway container ship, sailing on LNG, with a loading capacity of 268 TEU.

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Source: Maritime by Holland, March 20, 2013