Inherent safety assessment of alternative technologies for LNG ships bunkering

The adoption of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative marine fuel is a promising solution for “green shipping”, with potential extensive reduction of pollutant emissions. The future development and spread of LNG technologies for ship bunkering and fuel systems operation will necessarily need to face the safety issues associated with the high flammability of LNG, compared to conventional marine fuels. In this study, a comparative analysis of the inherent safety performance of the foreseen technologies for LNG bunkering was performed. Moreover, a comparison with conventional technologies based on marine diesel fuels was also carried out. An inherent safety ranking based on overall indicators deriving from severity of consequences and credibility of loss of containment events was introduced. The results allowed the identification of the inherently safer solutions for maritime fuel bunkering, highlighting critical units and providing insights on the safety issues to be addressed for the future development of green shipping technologies.