Deltamarin Develops Innovative LNG Fuel Tanks for Long Ocean Voyages

Deltamarin has created, in close cooperation with GTT, a unique portfolio of cargo and passenger vessels featuring a membrane-type LNG fuel tank to save valuable cargo space compared to classic cylindrical-type LNG tank solutions and to enable the use of LNG for long ocean voyages.

The portfolio includes a container vessel, a pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) and a cruise ship. During the development project, each of the vessels was equipped with a modular GTT membrane tank type solution, which can be adjusted in size from 1,000 to 5,000 cubic meters depending on the case vessel. Either one or multiple tanks can be integrated into the vessel. The final fuel capacity is a trade-off between desired cargo capacity and bunkering intervals.

On average, calculations during the development project showed that only approximately 60 percent of the LNG capacity provided by membrane technology could be accommodated in the same space, when using an optimized bi-lobe C-type tank solution. For large fuel capacities, therefore, the membrane solution is clearly the most feasible LNG fuel tank solution.

Deltamarin says from a net present 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.