Cutting the risks in LNG bunkering with Cryoline technology

LNG has increasingly been recognised as a viable bunker fuel within the maritime sector and is being adopted by an ever larger and more varied section of the global fleet. As shipowners have adopted LNG as a solution, there has naturally been an acceleration of new LNG bunkering projects in recent years. Clearly, when LNG is competing against well-established bunker fuels with 50 years of specific infrastructure behind them, expanding the availability and ease of LNG bunkering is key to its continued growth. 

The cost of building traditional fixed bunkering infrastructure can be prohibitive for many ports across the world, especially smaller ports or ports with challenging geography or bathymetry. Moreover, as the range of LNG vessels in the global fleet increases, existing infrastructure at current hubs may not be suited to the wide range of vessel sizes represented. 

Often it is this diversity in size and type of LNG vessel that is causing issues with infrastructure; building traditional fixed infrastructure can be prohibitively expensive if it is to service too large a range of vessel sizes. Similarly, port geography and conditions can make traditional infrastructure uneconomic or impractical. Yet there is a need for a rapid expansion of LNG bunkering infrastructure that must efficient in terms of CAPEX as well as sustainable in the long term. 

This is where Trelleborg Oil and Marine’s Cryoline LNG hose technology is making a tangible difference by unlocking new transfer configurations. Innovative approaches made possible by its safe, resilient and flexible design are able to overcome the challenges traditional infrastructure faces – including through its subsea or floating configurations. One of these innovations is the Universal Transfer System (UTS) pioneered by Trelleborg Oil and Marine in collaboration with Connect LNG and Natural Gas Fenosa. 

The UTS acts as a ‘plug and play’ solution using a floating platform to manoeuvre offshore and meet a vessel, rather than requiring a vessel to moor at shore or at a fixed jetty. This light and flexible infrastructure utilises Trelleborg’s Cryoline LNG floating hose technology, combining proven hose technologies with a unique application designed to fulfil the specific demands of LNG bunkering. 

First deployed on the Norwegian peninsula of Her?ya, the UTS does not require any modifications to deliver LNG to any vessel. Data from Her?ya showed that capital expenditure savings of up to 80% are possible over traditional infrastructure, while the UTS can service a wider variety of vessels. 

These savings are made possible by Trelleborg’s Cryoline LNG hose technology, and their unique design elements. Through employing a hose-in-hose design – with the inner hose providing resistance to internal pressure, and the outer hose providing protection from the external environment – alongside with Trelleborg’s unique nippleless technology, Cyroline LNG hoses deliver an unparalleled service life and the lowest possible total lifecycle costs. Fibre optics are incorporated into the hose to ensure real-time monitoring of the LNG transfer, and integrated safety systems act as a failsafe to reduce the risk of hazardous operations.

Cryoline LNG hoses are creating new long life and lower CAPEX options for LNG bunkering with a smaller footprint on a port. LNG bunkering does not need to be bound by the same constraints that oil and coal infrastructure was – as there are risks, opportunities and challenges specific to LNG that the equipment must mitigate.