During week 50 M/V Greenland went through an extensive sea trial program. Normally this type of cargo ship requires about two days for sea trials. With the added functionality of LNG, several tests must be done on booth MDO and LNG, thus four days were reserved.
The base for the sea trials was Port of Delzilj in the northern part of Netherlands. The first day at sea was the 8th of December and the ship was assisted by tugs to the breakwater and then released, running independently on her own for the first time.
The HAZOP (Hazard and Operability study) is now completed by Lloyds Register Consulting. The HAZOP is a follow up to the previously done HAZID and mainly focusing on safety risks related to bunkering and inerting procedures. During two days in the begining of december, a team consisting of experts from yard, vendors, classification society, owner and on site team was assembled at the yard Ferus Smit. With a systematic aproach all relevant procedures were scanned through to identify potential safety issues mainly by asking the question "What could possibly go wrong and how?".
Monday 7th of December M/V Greenland was towed on the canals out to the port of Delfzilj. Today will be the first day at sea and also the first day of an extensive sea trials program. The added functionality of LNG implies that most tests and procedures must be evaluated running on booth LNG and MGO.
Saturday 31st of October 2015, an important milestone in the LSR project was reached. With wishes of success and fair winds, M/V Greenland was traditionally christened with a bottle of champagne hitting the bow. This was followed by sideway launching and a big “splash”.
The outfitting of the ship will now be finalized during November and followed by the first sea trials in the beginning of December.
Even though the main focus on this website is to describe the matters related to the integration of LNG fuel in a dry cargo vessel, it could also be interesting to refer to the mission for the vessel. In this case the vessel is intended to transport bulk cement, flyash or other similar “powder materials”. The cargo handling system and storage tanks are highly specialized and developed by KGJ Cement. Basic function is a fluidization system that makes it possible for the cement to flow from cargo hold to a central suction point, from where it is discharged totally enclosed to the port. The system can discharge with up to 1000 tons/hour, totally dust free and also during rain which would not be possible with a normal bulk carrier.
As previously reported, the tank is now in place and almost all steel work finalized. Hence the work now shifts to focus on all interior, outfitting and system installations. This is a complicated work, incorporating several disciplines and roles of yard staff as well as owner and class representatives.
An important part of the Pilot LNG and JIP LSR projects are dissemination of results and lessons learned. During last week a movie was filmed at the ship yard. This movie will be shown together with project presentations on the final conference in Gothenburg, GotMoS 2015. Participating in the conference is free of charge and you can find more information about the event here.
The tank has now arrived and been mounted in to the vessel. This was followed by the assembly of forecastle and aft ship section. Finally the wheel house was welded to the deck and the main steelwork is now finalized. The ship will be launched 31st of October.
Meanwhile there is an intensive work to prepare the commissioning of the ship. Procedures for sea trials, operations, bunkering, and maintenance e.t.c are developed in close cooperation between the yard, owner, classification society, crew and yard on site team. Other important tasks are vocational training and preparations for the first voyages.
The tank is a heavy piece of metal and provides some challenges for the shipment. In this case it was transported overseas from the factory to Rotterdam and there transshipped to an inland water way barge which took the tank directly to the shipyard.
The vessel has now been keel laid down and about 25 % of the steel structure is completed. All assemble work takes place at the Ferus Smit yard site in Groeningen. The pieces of steel are ordered from a close by steel mill and arrives in batches. All parts are pre-cut and pre-bent based on a 3D model of the ship.
JIP LSR is now about to enter the building phase at the yard. Most of the detailed design work is finalized. Important elements such as main engine, LNG equipment and steel is now ordered. This will then be followed by keel laid down and production of steel structure.
Although one of the main objectives in this project is about the implementation of LNG as fuel in a general cargo ship, one may not forget the usual important mile stones in a ship design project.
JIP LSR was presented by Henrik Källsson at the TradeWinds conference “LNG as Marine Fuel Forum 2014” which was arranged in conjunction with the Singapore Maritime Week 2014.
On December 17 about 30 representatives of industry and the authorities gathered in Gothenburg to kick-off the Pilot LNG, consisting of six different Joint Industry Projects (JIP).
