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Leading international classification society Bureau Veritas says it is classing the world's largest bilobe gas tanks. They are said to be nearing completion at China’s Sinopacific yard and will be installed in a series of four 27,500 cubic metre (cbm) semi-refrigerated LNG/Ethylene carriers being built for Denmark’s Evergas.

Each of the IMO Type C bilobe tanks has a capacity of 9,686 cbm. Two of the tanks in each vessel will be supplemented by a third conical Type C cargo tank and a smaller LNG fuel tank on the deck of the vessels.

Carlos Guerrero, manager gas carriers, Bureau Veritas, commented: "These tanks are pushing at the frontier of small-scale LNG transportation. They build on experience with ethylene transportation and can carry LPG or LNG at 5 bar pressure. That allows for the development of flexible ships which will meet the demands of the new LNG trades which are constantly emerging."

Ralph Juhl, Vice President, Evergas, said: "We are really pleased with the way Sinopacific has built these world-beating tanks. Our new ships have to work in the roughest seas in the world so we wanted to build them tough and without a lot of deck clutter and exposed systems. These bilobe tanks enable us to have a flat main deck and they give us much better carrying capacity compared to cylindrical tanks in the same size ship. We are pleased to work with Sinopacific and Bureau Veritas to break new ground in gas transportation. Building bigger than ever before is always a challenge and the strength of the tanks must be calculated correctly, especially to allow for the increased liquid sloshing. The vessels' stability and damage stability was also a matter of additional efforts on the drawing board."

The new Evergas ships are scheduled for delivery in 2015 and are due to service the trade between Marcus Hook, Philadelphia and Rafnes in Norway.