Lloyd’s Register has awarded Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co., Ltd. (NACKS) Approval in Principle (AiP) for an ammonia-fueled 16,000TEU container ship. The AiP was presented at LR’s Nantong office and marks another milestone for ammonia as a fuel for container ship propulsion, according to LR's release.
LR, NACKS and Hudong Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. (HHM) started work on the project in early 2021 with the AiP awarded following a risk-based HAZID certification in which the three partners discussed the flammable, highly toxic and corrosive nature of ammonia and attended risk assessment seminars.
As part of the approval process the three parties also conducted research and discussion on the arrangement of the fuel tank, the selection of fuel tank material, vent mast positioning, double-walled pipe ventilation detection, bunkering station arrangement as well as detection and fire control of ammonia leakage.
The AiP follows a number of ammonia projects that LR has been involved in, including Design Approval for DSME’s new dual fuel VLCC, AiP for Samsung Heavy Industry’s 85k-125k ammonia fueled tanker and AiP for Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company (DSIC) 23,000 teu ammonia fueled container ship.