Wartsila, Cosco's Fleet Concept Certified

A natural gas operating fleet concept developed by Finnish turbine maker Wartsila and China's Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry (CHI) has now obtained Lloyd’s Register’s Approval in Principle (AiP) certificate, Wartsila said April 13. The development project was carried out under the terms of a memorandum of understanding cooperation signed in June 2016 between the three companies.

The fleet comprises four vessels; a pusher tug, LNG storage barge, LNG regasification barge, and a floating gas liquefaction barge. The pusher tug can be used to transport the three barges.

L to R: Sanjay Verma, Wärtsilä, Jim Smith, Lloyd’s Register and Zhao Zhijian, CHI (Credit: Wartsila)

The project has attained the authority of China’s National Patent Office and has been conceptualised by CHI. The design and engineering development, especially in relation to the hinge joint, mooring arrangement, ship type and seakeeping analysis, has also been carried out by CHI, Wartsila stated. Wärtsilä has supported this project by supplying LNG systems for the complete gas value chain.

Shardul Sharma