Bunkering reliability index for LNG bunkering operations considering uncertainty

Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) has recently been used as a new fuel in the maritime sector. Besides the preceptive studies related to the safety in the use of LNG and its consequences on people, infrastructure, and the environment, recent studies have addressed the reliability of bunkering operations. These studies do not include aspects which influence the reliability of the bunkering operation such as the effect of environmental conditions and human behavior as key factors for the reliability of the whole process. This paper presents a reliability model for bunkering operations which includes both effects. A sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of the results obtained is also included. Results and important findings are supported by an application example focused on bunkering truck to ship operation performed in a Spanish port. The results show that BURI is normally high close to 97% but it can decrease to a value close to 25% for adverse environmental conditions or 68% depending on human stress, experience and motivation.