210,000 dwt LNG dual fueled bulker design gets LR Approval in Principle

LR's Nick Brown presents AiP to Dr Chen Gang of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding at Posidonia

JUNE 6, 2018 — How big can LNG-fueled bulk carriers get? Lloyd’s Register and China’s Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd (SWS) are to jointly develop a 210,000 dwt LNG dual-fueled Newcastlemax bulker design.

The design has received LR’s Approval in Principle (AiP) and is based on the shipbuilder’s existing conventional 210K dwt bulk carrier, updated to incorporate LNG-fueled propulsion. LR provided assistance and support, in terms of the LNG fuel system application and verifying the design against the IGF code, LR’s Gas Fueled Rules and other relevant applicable standards.

SWS has become a very experienced designer and builder of Newcastlemax bulk carriers in recent years — its design is well established — and has now chosen to work together with LR to improve it and benefit from LR’s experience of incorporating LNG as a fuel options.

Dr. Chen Gang, Commercial Director of SWS, commented: “SWS has an extensive reference list for designing and building large Capesize bulk carriers. The experience and know-how that has been built to-date has been utilized to develop this latest world class design LNG-powered Newcastlemax bulk carrier. This design enables the lowest possible fuel consumption and allows owners to select a design that will meet the future SOx emission challenge.”

“We are extremely happy to cooperate with one of the leading class societies, LR, for the development of this design and it will be very exciting to see how the market responds,” he added. “SWS is committed to continuing to develop, innovate and create more market-driven, environmentally-friendly and technology-enabled products in the future.”

Presenting the AiP certificate in a ceremony at the Posidonia event, Nick Brown, LR’s Marine & Offshore Director, said: “It’s been an exciting project where we are delighted to have been able to support SWS in incorporating LNG as a fuel option.”