The Yamal LNG tankers will serve as a ‘floating pipeline’ between the gas-rich Yamal peninsula on the northwest Siberian coast and LNG customers in China and Japan. Under construction at South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, they will essentially be LNG tankers and icebreakers in one. 

“LNG tankers are already the most advanced type of ship,” says Jeppe Jacobsen, Business Unit Manager Exhaust & Combustion Systems, who has been involved in preparing the GCU deliveries for the vessels. “The Yamal LNG tankers are also being specialized for Arctic operation, which puts special demands on our systems.”

Working at the top of the world

Alfa Laval equipment will play a major role on the Yamal LNG tankers. In addition to a GCU for dealing with boil-off gas, each vessel will have a thermal-fluid-based secondary heating system, six Alfa Laval Aalborg XS-TC7A economizers and two 35-tonne Alfa Laval Aalborg OL boilers with dual-fuel burners.

Because the tankers will travel via the Bering Strait to the northern Pacific Ocean, all of the equipment must be prepared for frigid temperatures of -50°C or below. “At these temperatures, steam will be critical for heating up the deck and maintaining even basic operations on board,” says Jacobsen.

Expertise that minimizes risk

Alfa Laval’s involvement in the Yamal LNG project is no coincidence. “The Yamal LNG project is a high-risk affair, which is exactly why the investors have turned to us,” Jacobsen explains. “Alfa Laval’s size, long experience and engineering competence are security that everything will go as planned.”

Alfa Laval received the order for the first vessel in Q1 2014, with orders for the remaining 14 vessels arriving in batches during 2014 and early 2015. Deliveries for the first tanker have already begun, and Alfa Laval’s commitment to Yamal LNG will extend through late 2018.