Since 2012, the Baltic sea and some parts of American Sea have been set as Emission Control Areas(ECAs) by International Maritime Organization(IMO). ECAs are being spread rapidly as the result of tightening environmental regulations. Accordingly, the demand for LNG powered ships has been increased. As a result of this, discussions on LNG bunkering have been opened in Singapore, China and Europe. Korean government has recently initiated a research program for development of a Floating LNG Bunkering Terminal (FLBT). In this paper, a concept of a multiple docking aid system for FLBT operation is introduced. The proposed multiple docking aid system has ability to monitor a LNG Carrier(LNGC) and a LNG Bunkering Shuttle (LNGBS) simultaneously.
Since 2012, the International Marine Organization (IMO) has set a part of waters as an Emission Control Area (ECA), and European Union and USA have further reinforced the regulation for such emission gases from ships as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx). In addition, IMO has set the goal of reducing the amount of future greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and by 50% by 2050 on the basis of 2005, strengthening the regulation for greenhouse gas emission so that the ships built and operated from January, 2013 should comply with the regulation of Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). In line with such trend, the number of ships of using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a fuel has increased in order to reduce such air pollutants as sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides generated from ships on the sea. Here, since LNG is judged more economical as a substitute fuel than Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) which has been used mainly as an existing ship fuel, the attempt to use LNG as a ship fuel has started in Europe and expanded into different regions including USA. Currently, In line with the trends for the environmental regulatory reinforcement and the preparation for high-price oil, Korean government has also promoted such tasks as LNG-propelled ships, development and standardization of LNG bunkering technology, and improvement of systems. In addition, under review are the control system and the introduction and development of Floating LNG Bunkering Terminal: (FLBT) for efficient fuel supply together with the introduction of ships of using LNG as a fuel.
