Overview of performing shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship compatibility studies for LNG bunker vessels

Stringent regulations and policies have prompted vessel operators and owners to direct the interests on developing greener vessels from oil-fuelled vessels to LNG-fuelled vessels. Consequently, the increasing demands for LNG, as the alternative fuel for vessels, have led to the booming development of LNG carriers or bunker vessels. LNG transfer operations, including loading and bunkering operations, are the major operations taking place on LNG carriers and bunker vessels. As these operations involve in between vessels (ship-to-ship) and terminals (shore-to-ship), compatibility issues should be anticipated and hence, proper compatibility studies should be performed prior to vessel construction stage. Since there are no standard guidelines and procedures of performing compatibility studies, it is the intent of the present article to provide an overview of performing shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship compatibility studies.