On December 4, the 16,000 TEU dual-fuel container ship built by CSSC (Tianjin) Shipbuilding for Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) successfully completed its first LNG bunkering operation in 172 hours, filling the gap in LNG bunkering in the Tianjin area.
It is reported that this LNG bunkering used a truck-to-ship bunkering method, providing LNG fuel to the ship through a connected system, with the advantages of good maneuverability and low operating cost.
The ship’s bunkering operation summarized and absorbed the experience of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Corporation’s (DSIC) bunkering. Under the guidance of DSIC’s Dock Department II, the Design Institute and other departments, each team optimized the process technology based on the original bunkering procedure, closely coordinated the construction personnel of all parties, and strictly carried out the bunkering according to the procedure to ensure that the LNG fuel bunkering operation was safe and controllable.
With the continuous efforts of all staff, the work of emptying the liquid nitrogen in the tank, replacing LNG, and bunkering was successfully completed. It took 172 hours from the connection of the ship-shore filling pipeline to the end of LNG bunkering, and only 31.5 hours from the entry of LNG into the tank to the completion of the 1,525 cubic meters of LNG bunkering.
During the bunkering operation, the commissioning of the BOG compressor, the generator in gas mode and the boiler was carried out at the same time, which won precious time for the “gas test” of the ship.
The success of this LNG fuel bunkering demonstrated the solid technical foundation of CSSC (Tianjin) Shipbuilding and accumulated rich LNG bunkering experience for CSSC (Tianjin) Shipbuilding. Next, CSSC (Tianjin) Shipbuilding will take this LNG bunkering operation as an opportunity to improve the implementation specifications of bunkering operations and provide strong guarantees for the subsequent large-scale construction of LNG-powered ships.