BV says CNG transport viable

International classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) says that market demand will inevitably lead to the development of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) carriers. Speaking at BV?s Gas Tanker Seminar, to be held in Hamburg on 20 September, Fred Venner, BV?s manager for gas ships will say that CNG ships will be suitable for routes up to about 2,500 miles, with substantial parcels of natural gas suitable for such trades on the western US seaboard, in SE Asia, the northern N Sea, central America and the Mediterranean.

Venner will review the main options for CNG carriage which include coiled and vertical steel pipe systems and steel and composite pressure vessels, and raise questions over safety. He will also highlight BV?s new rules for CNG ships. As BV was the first classification society to class an LNG carrier, the first to move into LNG regasification and the first to class dual fuel ships for LNG, Venner says he is confident that BV will pioneer new means of natural gas transport.

Venner will also highlight potential new means of LNG carrier propulsion, “We have already pioneered dual fuel diesels for LNG carriers,” he says. “I expect we shall go further and we are actively looking at solutions including slow speed diesel with direct gas injection, direct drive dual fuel gas turbine, combined cycle gas turbine with electric drive, advanced cycle steam turbines and fuel cells.”