Environmental focus drives gas carrier fleet growth

Like floating pipelines, an increasing number of carrier ships ferry liquefied gas across the seas. As the global search for more environmentally friendly alternatives to coal and heavy fuel oil continues, demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has increased steadily over the past decade.

– Starting with the shale gas revolution in the United States, we have seen a super trend in global supply and demand for LNG. The US has invested heavily in LNG liquefaction facilities, as have Australia and Qatar. Most of the exports are headed for China, who is growing to be the biggest global consumer of LNG, says Niklas Bengtsson, Director maritime intelligence at Lloyd’s List Intelligence.

Cleaner air and lower ship emissions

The Chinese demand for liquified gas is driven both by a need for more energy to fuel further economic growth and a desire to reduce air pollution by switching from coal to the cleaner burning and less CO₂-intensive gas. In addition, the tougher limits on shipping emissions imposed by the IMO Sulphur Directive means that more ships are being converted to run on LNG, further boosting global demand.

–  In order to live up to the new Sulphur emission limits, ship owners have three options: Use fuel with lower Sulphur content, install a scrubber to clean the exhaust gas or switch to LNG powered ships. The abundance of cheap LNG available in the US makes the latter an attractive choice if you often sail to US ports, says Niklas Bengtsson.

Due to the lack of intercontinental pipelines, LNG and LPG are mainly transported by ship, making gas carriers among the fastest growing fleets measured in percentages. In order to be moved safely, the liquefied gas must be kept under pressure at a fixed temperature. E.g. LNG is to be approximately minus 160 degrees Celsius for the entire voyage thereby demanding high quality equipment.

New explosion proof motors from Hoyer Motors

Both LNG and LPG carriers and ships running on LNG must live up to strict safety requirements, including explosion-proof pumps and compressors. To meet the increased demand from both shipbuilders and marine OEM’s, Hoyer Motors introduces a whole new range of ATEX and IECEx certified explosion proof motors.

– With this new category, we can offer our customers a wider range of motor options for applications used on gas carriers and other hazardous areas, such as gas pumps, fuel pumps, compressors, and reliquefaction systems. This includes the usual Hoyer value propositions of fast deliveries, high quality and easy access to documentation, says Hoyer Group CEO Henrik Sørensen.

Premier at Kormarine 2019

The vast majority of new gas carriers are produced by three South Korean shipyards – Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries – with China and Japan picking up most of the remaining orders. For this reason, Hoyer Motors has chosen to introduce the new explosion proof range at the Kormarine 2019 exhibition in Busan on October 22-25, 2019.

– Our new range will be manufactured at our recently expanded facilities in China, and combined with our strong Asian supply chain, we are very close to the majority of our potential customers in the gas carrier market. This enables us to not only provide swift deliveries, but also to support our customers quickly, effectively and locally, says Henrik Sørensen.

The new range in numbers

• Frame size: IEC 80-355
• Output: 0,18-375 kW
• Frequency: 50 or 60 Hz
• Industrial or marine design
• ATEX and IECEx certified