American Bureau of Shipping on Tuesday said it has joined forces with Arista Shipping, Deltamarin, GTT and Wärtsilä in a joint development project to develop a dry bulk carrier concept that employs LNG as fuel.
The goal is to develop a Kamsarmax bulk carrier design to be the first of this type suitable for worldwide services powered by LNG in compliance with the International Maritime Organization’s Energy Efficiency Design Index 2025 standards, NOx Tier III and Marpol Annex VI SOx emission levels, the classification society said in its statement.
The design will be the first LNG-fueled cargoship capable of full-range operations, ABS claims.
ABS Vice President of Global Gas Solutions Patrick Janssens said, “We see the near-term opportunities for larger vessels on fixed and known trade routes, but more opportunities will emerge as concepts mature and bunkering infrastructure expands. Environmental stewardship will continue to be a concern, and owners will be evaluating alternative fuel choices.”
The vessel will have an LNG fuel tank with the capacity of 2500 cubic meters enabling the full-range operation.
ABS will provide Approval in Principle for the concept, which is based on the highly optimized Deltamarin B.Delta 82 design, utilizing a GTT membrane LNG fuel tank, and a Wärtsilä four-stroke, medium-speed engine without auxiliary generators.
The classification society informed the design could be applied to other bulk carrier sizes and serve as the basis for an LNG-fueled tanker.