LNG bunkering vessel
The purpose-built small gas carrier that delivers LNG ship to ship, its containment and transfer plant, and the operating envelope that sets its port role.
An LNG bunkering vessel is a small purpose-built gas carrier whose function is to deliver LNG to a receiving ship alongside, at berth or at anchorage. It is the mode that makes deep-sea LNG fuelling practical, because it removes the dependence on a fixed shore connection at each bunker port.
The vessel is built to the IGC Code as a gas carrier, but its transfer plant is designed around the receiving ship rather than around a terminal: manifold heights and spacings that suit a range of freeboards, a vapour return connection, an emergency release system, and a custody transfer measurement system accurate enough to settle an energy-based invoice.
The full article will cover containment and capacity ranges, cargo and transfer pumps, the manifold and hose arrangement, the ship to ship transfer sequence and its safety zone, custody transfer measurement, and the port approvals that govern where and when the operation may take place. See LNG fuel system and gas carrier types .