An ammonia floating storage and regasification barge (A-FSRB) developed collaboratively by NYK Line, Nihon Shipyard and IHI Corporation (IHI) has been granted an Approval in Principle (AiP) by ClassNK. The AiP is reported as the world’s first for an A-FSRB handling ammonia as cargo.
The A-FSRB will be used as an offshore floating facility to receive and store ammonia transported via vessels as a liquid. The A-FSRB will warm and regasify ammonia when needed before sending it to a pipeline onshore.
The A-FSRB is said to benefit from a reduced construction time and lower costs when compared to the building of conventional onshore storage tanks and regasification plants. The trio believes that by using the A-FSRB the adoption and use of ammonia as a cleaner maritime fuel will be accelerated.
The design review of the A-FSRB was carried out by the classification society under its Part PS of the Rules for the Survey and Construction of Steel Ships and Guidelines for Floating Offshore Facilities for LNG/LPG Production, Storage, Offloading and Regasification.
At present, there are no international regulations for floating storage and regasification facilities where ammonia is the cargo, meaning the unique requirements of ammonia will have to be reflected in the barge’s design. As a result, NYK Line, Nihon Shipyard, IHI and ClassNK conducted an in-depth risk identification of several contingencies and worked collaboratively to identify technical issues at the initial study stage.
The collective risk identification was conducted using the gap analysis method and identified differences between traditional ships and offshore floating facilities using heavy oil, LNG and other fuel types. Following the results of the risk identification, ClassNK issued the A-FSRB with an AiP.
