RINA has launched a virtual Gas Centre of Excellence to cater for the shipping industry’s increasing interest in liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel and the European Union’s (EU) masterplan.
The virtual centre, located in Italy, aims to gather experience from RINA’s gas experts, including groups such as D’Appolonia, Centro Sviluppo Materiali (CSM), RINA Services and use their experience in Test, Inspection and Certification (TIC) and Consulting Engineering to deliver services globally.
The centre will help the industry address the particular needs of using gas as a green fuel source. It will help in the EU’s masterplan to develop framework conditions for using LNG on ships in the Mediterranean, Atlantic Ocean and Black Sea areas. The idea is to increase the potential of Motorways of the Sea by lowering transport costs and reducing CO2, sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), as well as green the transport corridors and promote the use of LNG as an alternative fuel to conventional heavy fuel oil (HFO) and other marine bunker fuels.
There are currently two EU projects in development, GAINN4CORE and GAINN4MOS, which aim to both aiming to support the use of LNG as fuel.
RINA Services will provide classification and inspection, particularly of vessels and offshore and onshore terminals. Experts from CSM will deliver advice on materials. D’Appolonia will provide engineering consultancy around the design, construction and management of LNG terminals.
Operating LNG ships and terminals demands significant training, therefore the RINA Academy, as part of our Gas Centre of Excellence, has developed both basic and advanced LNG fuel courses, in line with the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) requirements”.
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