GTT’s membrane technology has been chosen for the tank design of six VLECs, which will be built by the Korean shipyards Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) on behalf of Chinese based Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical. The delivery of the vessels is scheduled from Q4 2020 onwards, the company said in its release.
GTT’s Mark III membrane containment system has been chosen for the design of the tanks. The design has been optimised in order to significantly increase the capacity within the standard VLGCs overall dimensions, thereby offering more than 98,000 m3 total cargo capacity with limited draft. This second generation of VLECs will be the world’s largest ever built.
Designed to be multi-gas units, i.e to transport ethane and several other types of gas, such as propylene, LPG and ethylene, these six units will also be “LNG ready”, offering the possibility to carry LNG in the future without having to convert the cargo tanks. The lower BOR, optimised fuel consumption, and reduced power utility on one hand, as well as the higher ship speed & cargo capacity on the other hand, significantly improve the overall economics of the delivered cargo per ton to the end customer.