Norway-based offshore oil and gas engineering specialist NLI Solutions (NLI) has developed a concept for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) Bunker Barge based on the NLI LNG tank design.
NLI, in collaboration with the marine division of Rolls-Royce and Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions (WTS), has further developed the concept ‘HighTechBarge’ (HTB) in a design study.
LNG is considered among the cleanest and economical options for low emission shipping, while LNG Bunker Barges are described as the ‘missing link’ in the LNG supply chain.
NLI has designed HTB to address multiple demands for a cost-effective, high-tech high-volume barge and expects that it would address the practical availability of LNG bunker facilities.
The HTB will feature podded propulsion for safe operations and increased manoeuvrability and advanced electronics for early threat detection, said the company.
Equipped with a new insulation system with very low levels of boil off gas, the LNG tank will be an atmospheric, prismatic steel tank, type ‘B’, with a capacity of 4000m3 of LNG.