Germany’s HB Hunte Engineering has won an approval in principle from classification society LR for a new compact fuel storage and supply system for smaller LNG-fueled vessels.
The new design combines the tank connection space, as required by the IGF Code, and the fuel storage hold, in which the type C fuel gas tanks are located, offering space and cost advantages, according to a statement by LR.
LR said the new system offers a space saving solution for smaller LNG-fueled vessels that have limited room onboard.
With more LNG solutions being implemented on small-scale vessels, the concept can deliver “significant efficiency advantages” for newbuildings as well as retrofits, it said.
LR awarded the AiP following an analysis that confirms the technical and regulatory feasibility of the system, becoming the first classification society to approve HB Hunte’s design.
“Clearly, developing this system represents an important step towards reducing the carbon footprint and enabling cleaner emissions in the segment of ships between 24m to 150m in length covered by LR’s Special Service Craft Rules (SSC),” Markus Büsig, LR’s North Europe president, said in the statement.
“As not exclusively developed for LNG, the AiP will be an enabler for the use of various types of future green fuels for governmental, coastal, support and supply vessels,” he said.
“We realized that standard solutions for fuel gas systems will not work for small-scale vessels,” Wolfgang Franzelius, HB Hunte’s director sales and business development, said.
“Accordingly, we thought about a system which will require less space, a smaller ventilation system, shorter pipe routing and overall, less equipment costs,” he said.
Back in 2020, HB Hunte completed the hydrostatic pressure test for its bi-lobe LNG fuel tank.
The firm also joined forces with compatriot shipping group Hartmann on 3,500 TEU LNG-powered container vessels.