Deltamarin and GTT Cooperate on LNG-Powered Ship Designs for Long Ocean Voyages

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday January 8, 2018

Deltamarin Ltd. (Deltamarin) says that, through close cooperation with GTT, it has developed a portfolio of cargo and passenger vessels that use membrane liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel tanks to save cargo space compared to designs using conventional cylindrical-type liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank solutions, in turn helping to enabling the use of LNG for long ocean voyages.

The portfolio includes a container ship, a pure car and truck carrier (PCTC), and a cruise ship, each of which feature a modularised GTT membrane tank type solution that can be adjusted in size from 1,000 cubic metres (cbm) to 5,000 cbm, depending on vessel needs.

"The final fuel capacity is a trade-off between desired cargo capacity and bunkering intervals," explains Deltamarin.

The company says the LNG membrane tank solution shows a ROI of less than three years compared to the reference level that typically features a C-type tank, noting that HFO with a scrubber option offers a "slightly shorter" payback time.

"From a Net Percent Value (NPV) point of view, the LNG membrane solution offers the highest value of all options over the ten-year period. This is due to the savings made by both, in LNG fuel price and efficient use of hull volume for LNG fuel tanks. Compared to Type-C tank solution, a significant amount of valuable cargo space inside the hull can be saved," said Deltamarin.

"The HFO option also has moderate fuel costs but is penalised because of the extra power and sludge handling required by the scrubber operation. With the fuel price scenario used, operating with MGO almost doubles the operating cost over 10 years compared to LNG options."

With IMO 2020 and the introduction of a 0.50% global sulfur cap on marine fuel now less than two years away, there is still considerable uncertainty over how the expected shift in demand will impact the relative pricing of HSFO and compliant fuels.

Indeed, Deltamarin notes its analysis "is very sensitive to fuel prices" as well as fuel tank capacities.