SGMF publishes guidelines for vessels using LNG as fuel

The Society for Marine Gas as a Fuel (SGMF) has published new guidelines on working practices for the maintenance, repair and dry docking operations of ships that use LNG as a fuel to help ensure the safe maintenance of gas-powered ships, including the dry docking period.

With 185 gas powered ships in active service and with 212 others in order, the release of this publication is most useful since it is important that before any docking both ship owners, operators or ship managers and shipyards fully understand the requirements of safety in the management of fuel gas. Furthermore, in the future an increasing number of ships will switch to the use of gas as a fuel for maritime use, this has catalyzed the greater international regulatory attention on the reduction of the environmental impact of emissions by the IMO.

However, shipping companies that use gas as marine fuel will have to be prepared when their gas powered ships face routine maintenance in dry docks, because while normally the cargo is removed from the ship in the case of dry docking , this sometimes does not happen for the fuel.

The new guide describes in detail the techniques and precautions that can be applied to minimize risks both in the case of LNG and gaseous fuels. In addition, the guide also offers a risk assessment approach for all aspects of LNG fuel management related to docking preparation and during the docking process. It also provides useful elements for shipowners to select prequalified shipyards.

The guidelines "Gas as marine fuel: working practices for maintenance, repair and dry dock" were developed using the experience and technical knowledge of the vast network of SGMF members coordinated by the safety adviser of SGMF, David Haynes, to whom Mark Bell, general manager of SGMF, declaring himself proud for the preparation of the guide, addressed his thanks together with all the individuals and member organizations that contributed to this publication.

The SGMF association has 148 companies among its members. For them, the publication is available on the association portal (Library / Publications), while hard copies will be available in July.