A Study of the Effect of Ship Size on Components Selection for an LNG Carrier

Abstract

The primary aim of any business is to maximise profit for a given level of effort. This is equally true for liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation in which any possible reduction in capital and operational costs will attract the attention of the ship-owner. The main strategy for achieving this is to select the optimal combination of the main components of the vessel based on a given objective. There are no fixed regulations or formulae that need to be applied in selecting the combination of components; however several techniques have been developed over the years to assist with the process of ship design, such as the ship design spiral. The decision making processes for the selection of these main components need to be implemented at a preliminary stage because once these main components have been identified, the overall costs will be established and will be constrained over the ship’s life span. Modifications may be made to the selected components at a later stage, however this would come at a considerable cost and would incur significant programme delay because it is not simply a matter of buying a new component, it may also involve a significant re-arrangement of the ship’s layout in order to accommodate the new component. This would therefore, require the ship owner to fund both additional capital costs as well as the ongoing operational costs. This paper focuses on the effect of ship size on the selection of components for an LNG carrier.