World’s first LNG-fuelled reefer carrier to be built

TIN news:  South Korean engineering company, GAS Entec, announced the plan to build a LNG fuelled reefer carrier. The vessel will be recorded as the world’s first LNG fuelled reefer carrier.

As the company informs, it selected as a reefer carrier an indirect type of cargo hold cooling system, named EnergiCoolTM by LNG cold energy utilization, which came from the cryogenic energy generated during the vaporization process of LNG, propulsion and power generation fuel. As a result, this technology eliminates the need for existing cooling equipment, such as large compressors, and there is reduction of power consumption and the fuel consumption of the generator, as well as of the maintenance cost of cooling equipment.

On April 14th, GAS Entec announced that they signed MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) with SEoIL Agency, a professional shipper of refrigeration cargo, and they agreed to construct, invest, charter and operate a 155,000ft3 reefer carrier. And also they agreed to ship the new vessel to the existing operating route of SEoIL Agency from late 2018. According to the agreement, GAS Entec will lead the investment and financing for the construction of the LNG fuelled reefer carrier and the entire newbuilding project, while SEoIL Agency will provide technical and commercial information on the founding and operation of reefer carrier to GAS Entec.

In addition, GAS Entec will jointly develop LNG refrigerant system with Dongwha Entec and agreed to apply the cycle and generator as a dual fuel engine in cooperation with Wartsila. Furthermore, hold insulation system will be replaced by products developed by Hankuk Carbon. The company explained that upon appliance of cargo hold insulation, the thickness of the existing cargo hold wall, which is near 1 meter, will be reduced to one-third, which increases cargo load and minimizes construction cost.

The company said in a statement: “If this new refrigerated cargo carrier is proven to have a 30% operating cost savings compared to the existing one, it will be big impact to hundreds of homogenous newbuilding markets around the world”.