LNG Carrier Could Save $1 Million in Fuel Per Year

On Monday, Hyundai Heavy Industries announced the delivery of a new LNG carrier for Knutsen – and it expects the ship will be significantly more efficient. 

Hyundai says that the La Mancha Knutsen has a new system for compressing and reliquefying boil off gas (BOG), allowing it to reuse 1,600 tons of natural gas every year which would otherwise be wasted. This should yield a net savings of $1 million annually or $25 million over the life of the vessel, HHI says, as conventional systems are only able to reliquefy part of the gas.

Hyundai first announced the system in February of last year, and it claims that the system could save a vessel operator 50 percent of what they would spend on fuel if they were burning HFO or MGO instead. 

The La Mancha is the first vessel in a series of two for Knutsen.

The investment in fuel-saving technology fits with Knutsen's overall strategy of aiming for efficiency and cost reduction. The shipping company is also working with tech firm Enova to analyze shipboard energy consumption in detail.

"One ship can use the same amount of energy as a small town. Clearly it has costs, both for us and the environment," said Knutsen quality manager Geir Hagen in June. "Our goal is to be ahead of the competition and the more energy we save, the more we save on equipment and maintenance – and the charterer saves money. Then we will be more competitive and better placed to win new contracts."

Knutsen is also working with Norway's Gassco to study transportation of liquefied CO2 by ship: captured carbon dioxide from a shoreside power plant's emissions would be shipped to a suitable location for storage below ground. Ships like Knutsen's shuttle tanker Gijon Knutsen could work for transportation of CO2, Gassco says. 

Norway has previously said it has an ambition to realize at least one full-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration project by 2020.