South Korean coastal LNG bunkering system takes shape

South Korean LNG engineering, procurement and construction company Trans Gas Solution has received approval in principle from Korean Register for a 500-m³ LNG bunker barge design that will be part of a new coastal LNG bunkering system being developed in South Korea to serve LNG-fuelled ships.

Funding for the LNG bunker barge concept is through a government-backed project supported by South Korea’s Minister of Maritime Affairs & Fisheries and organised by the Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO).

The LNG bunkering barge concept, Kolt-05B, is a 48.5-m vessel with an IMO Type C pressurised fuel tank with a storage capacity of 500 m³, including a low-pressure LNG fuel gas supply system CryoPac-L. The barge will have a bunkering arm to assist in fuelling vessels at a flowrate of 200 m³/h, and the ability to handle return gases during bunkering operations.

The vessel's LNG-fuelled engine will comply with the latest  IMO emission regulations regarding sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions.

Increasing demand for LNG bunkering in the country led South Korea to launch the 'Development Project of the Coastal Ship with Customized LNG Bunkering System,' which develops and validates LNG bunkering facilities along the South Korean coast. The project brings together South Korean Government and industry. KRISO is joined in the project by steel-maker POSCO, shipbuilder, offshore and industrial construction company EK Heavy Industries, pressure vessel manufacturer Mytec and LNG fuelling station developer Valmax. Trans Gas Solution will oversee the development of the control system of the vessel including the cargo handling system, which covers the basic and detail design of the vessel.

Following construction, testing and commissioning in the first half of 2021, the LNG bunkering barge system is expected to supply LNG to ships that will operate off the coast of South Korea in 2022.