ABS, Samsung to Work on Next-Gen LNGC

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) is set to work with South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) to develop a next-generation LNG carrier (LNGC), the US agency said on September 17.

The pair have agreed on a joint development project (JDP), under which SHI will provide the concept and basic design of the LNGC, incorporating smart-ship technologies. The vessel will be equipped with an advanced air lubrication system for improved efficiency, it said. ABS will review the designs.

“In this JDP we will focus on the examination and realisation of future technologies with SHI’s most advanced LNG carrier design to meet current and future market demand,” SHI’s vice president Jong H Youn said in a statement.

ABS provides regulatory and statutory guidance on projects related to LNG floating structures and systems, gas fuel systems and equipment, gas carriers and barges. The agency said it had been the classification society of choice for some of the most advanced gas carriers currently in service.