Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 53 No. 2 (June 2016)
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SAYARINGO STaGE- Next Generation MOSS-type LNG Carrier
with hybrid propulsion plant SAI HIRAMATSU*1

KAZUSHI KUWAHATA*2

KAZUHIRO HIROTA*3TOSHINORI ISHIDA*4

HIROFUMI TSUKAMOTO*2 KEN ISHIBASHI*2

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) developed a liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier
named “Sayaringo STaGE” for shipping shale gas from North America to Japan. The Sayaringo
STaGE has a continuous cover over the tanks, a feature inherited from its predecessor the
Sayaendo, and while keeping this merit, incorporates apple-shaped MOSS-type tanks and atwin-shaft hybrid propulsion system “STaGE” plant, enhancing economic efficiency, environment
friendliness, and versatility. This report outlines the Sayaringo STaGE, which was developed basedon MHI's cutting-edge technology.

|1. Introduction
The Sayaringo STaGE (Figure 1) was developed by enhancing the highly regarded
Sayaendo LNG carrier, which was also developed and built by MHI. The Sayaendo was named
after sayaendo (podded peas) because its mame (legume)-like spherical tanks are covered with acontinuous saya (pea)-like cover. On the other hand, the Sayaringo STaGE also has a continuous
cover over the tanks. The reason for the naming is the upper semi-sphere of the tanks is larger thanthe lower semi-sphere, and the swelling shape of the tank seems like a ringo (apple) in the saya(pea)-like cover.
Other inherited advantages are the lightweight hull, low-wind resistance, and good
maintainability. By combining the inherited features with the newly adopted propulsion system
concept "STaGE," the Sayaringo STaGE dramatically enhances its fuel efficiency. The Sayaringo
STaGE aims to ship LNG from North American shale gas deposits, which have recently been in thenews regarding expansion of LNG resources. MHI has already received several orders. The
following are the details of the Sayaringo STaGE.

Figure 1

The Sayaringo STaGE*1 Deputy General Manager, Ship Engineering Department, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
*2 Nagasaki Ship & Ocean Engineering Department, Shipbuilding & Ocean Development Division, Commercial Aviation & Transportation Systems*3 Chief Staff Manager, Ship Engineering Department, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
*4 Chief Staff Manager, Nagasaki Ship & Ocean Engineering Department, Shipbuilding & Ocean Development Division, Commercial Aviation &Transportation Systems

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 53 No. 2 (June 2016)4|2. Development background2.1

Needs from shale gas projects

Historically, Japan has imported LNG mainly from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, andAustralia. In terms of energy security and stable energy prices, it is desirable to expand energy
resources. Recently, shale gas production has surged thanks to technological innovation, launching
many projects to import LNG from North America to Japan to add shale gas as a new energy
resource. The Sayaringo STaGE was developed to meet such demands. The proposed shipping
routes have the following difficulties that are different from conventional routes.
(1) Long-distance routes
The LNG export terminals are located along the U.S. Gulf Coast and East Coast. The
LNG carriers have to sail about 10,000 nautical miles (18,500 km) one-way from theseterminals to Japan passing through the Gulf of Mexico, Panama Canal, and the North Pacific
Ocean.
(2) Severe marine conditions
Severe marine conditions such as hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and on the east coast,
as well as harsh weather in the North Pacific Ocean in the winter, are common on the routes.
(3) Ship size limits
To pass through the New Panama Canal, the LNG carrier has to meet the New Panamax
limits on ship dimensions (Table 1), which also maintain compatibility with the LNG
export/import terminals in the U.S. and Japan.
Table 1

New Panamax (Source: The Panama Canal Authority website)
Length

Width

Draft

Lock gate* dimension

427m

55m

18.3m

Maximum ship size

366m

49m

15.2m

* A gate to raise or lower ships from one water level to another on rivers or canals

(4)

2.2

Environmental concerns
The sea area off the Pacific Coast of the U.S. and Canada is designated as an Emission
Control Area (ECA). Ships passing through ECAs have to minimize the environmental impact
of propulsion plant exhaust -gas.

Development concept and solutions

The development concept includes securing LNG supply, reducing shipping costs, andmeeting the requirements described in Section 2.1 and below.
- Building an LNG carrier with high reliability and safety that matches the characteristics ofthe shipping routes.
- Pursuing economic benefits by reducing the life cycle cost.

Figure 2

Functional requirements and solutions

Figure 2 shows the functional requirements of the development concept and the linkage
between the solutions. The Sayaringo STaGE is developed based on the already-built model, theSayaendo, to meet the following requirements:(1) Highly versatile ship size that meets the New Panamax limits and matches existing LNG
terminals, while securing the maximum cargo capacity.
(2) Low boil off rate (BOR, an index of volume of gas generated by heat penetration) andhigh-reliability by using MOSS-type cargo tanks.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 53 No. 2 (June 2016)
5(3)

New concept of efficient propulsion system that enables gas burning in all operation modes
including in harbors.
The details are described in Chapter 3.

|3. Features of the Sayaringo STaGE
3.1

Principal dimensions and layout

Table 2 is the comparison of the principal dimensions between the Sayaendo and the
Sayaringo STaGE. The Sayaringo STaGE uses the same continuous tank cover as the Sayaendo,
inheriting the lightweight hull and low-wind resistance. Combining the inherited benefits withfurther improvements, the Sayaringo STaGE becomes a state-of-the-art LNG carrier. The highly
versatile dimensions of less than 300 m in length overall and less than 49 m in breadth matches the
New Panamax limits and with over 100 LNG terminals worldwide without sacrificing the
maximum cargo capacity. A twin-skeg hull (Figure 3) and a hybrid propulsion plant "STaGE"
using an efficient twin-shaft steam turbine are newly adopted.
Table 2 Comparison of principal dimensions
LNG tank type
Cargo capacity(m3)(100% full at -163°C and,atmospheric pressure; excluding dome)Loa(m)
B (mld.)(m)

The Sayaendo

The Sayaringo STaGE

4 spherical tanks (stretch type)4 spherical tanks (apple-shaped)

abt. 155,300

abt. 180,000 *1

abt. 288.0

abt. 297.5 *2

48.94

48.94

D (mld.)

(m)

26.0

27.0

Service speed

(kt)

19.5
Single-shaft single-rudder UST(ultra-steam turbine)

19.5
Twin-shaft twin-rudder STaGE(steam turbine and gas engine)

Propulsion plant*1: Changeable from 165,000 m3 to 180,000 m3*2: Depends on cargo capacity

Figure 3

Twin-skeg hull

Owing to the continuous tank cover, the layout around the cargo compartments is similar to
the Sayaendo. The cargo manifolds, which are to connect with onshore LNG terminals duringcargo loading/unloading, are placed between No. 2 Tank and No. 3 Tank, and the cargo machineryroom is arranged inside the tank cover between the No. 3 Tank and No. 4 Tank. The complex
structures that support pipes, wires, and passageway placed over the cover are simpler than those of
conventional tankers with semi-sphere tank covers, significantly enhancing maintainability.

3.2

Apple-shaped LNG tanks(3)The apple-shaped LNG tanks are based on a highly reliable MOSS-type tank with extensive
track records. MHI improved the MOSS-type tank into an apple-like shape to increase thevolumetric efficiency and maximize the cargo capacity along with meeting the New Panamax
limits, and thus named it the "apple-shaped tank" because of its appearance.
Figure 4 compares the ordinary stretched MOSS-type tank used in the Sayaendo and theapple-shaped tank. The ordinary tank consists of semi-spheres and a cylinder, and the apple-shapedtank consists of a donut-shaped torus as well as semi-spheres and a cylinder. Because of the lower
height, the center of gravity of the apple-shaped tank is at a lower position than the ordinary one
despite the same volumetric capacity.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 53 No. 2 (June 2016)
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Figure 4

Comparison between conventional tank and apple-shaped tank

The total holding capacity of the tanks is changeable from 165 km3 to 180 km3 depending on
the customer's shipping needs by adjusting the composition ratio of the semi-spheres, cylinder, andtorus.
The outer surface of the aluminum tanks is covered with heat insulator. The heat insulator
thickness is different in each place depending on the surrounding structures and conditions to keep
the predetermined heat insulation for the whole tanks.

3.3

Propulsion plant STaGE

STaGE (Figure 5) is an abbreviation for Steam Turbine and Gas Engine, and is a hybrid
propulsion plant that consists of an ultra-steam turbine (UST) plant on the port side and a
combination of a dual-fuel diesel engine (DFE) and a propulsion electric motor (PEM), DFE-PEM
plant, on the starboard side. The MHI UST plant is also used in the Sayaendo. The DFE can workon both gas and oil. The details of the features are described below.

Figure 5

STaGE propulsion plant(1) High-fuel efficiency
The exhaust-gas and jacket waste heat from the DFE are recovered to heat the feedwater
going toward the UST plant, achieving significant improvement in fuel efficiency.
Figure 6 shows the image of waste heat recovery in the STaGE plant. In the UST plant,

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 53 No. 2 (June 2016)7

the heated feedwater flows to the boiler to generate steam to be used to drive the turbine. The
electricity generated by the DFEs drives the PEM. Ordinarily, a huge amount of waste heatfrom DFEs is dumped into the exhaust-gas and jacket cooling water. But the STaGE plant uses
the waste heat to heat the boiler feedwater, enhancing the plant’s total efficiency.
The waste heat from the DFEs is also recycled to generate auxiliary steam as well as thedrive steam for the main turbine, also enhancing total efficiency. Instead of a turbine generator
used in conventional steam turbine plants, the power generator of the DFE plant supplies power
to the ship, resulting in a simpler plant configuration and higher efficiency.
As such, the STaGE plant achieves significant efficiency enhancement by combining two
different propulsion engines and by optimizing the waste heat energy.

Figure 6

Image comparison of waste heat recovery(2)

Easy maintenance
The main engines are the maintenance-free UST plant and the DFE-PEM plant. There areabout 20 cylinders, which are about half that for an only-DFE-PEM plant. This reduces themaintenance workload and DFE maintenance cost and also halves the usage of lubricant andpilot oil (MGO).
(3) Excellent environmental performance
The STaGE plant itself emits about 20% less CO2 than conventional turbine plants. The
Sayaringo as a whole emits about 40% less CO2 per cargo unit than conventional LNG carriers
with a 147 km3 cargo capacity and conventional turbine plant, thanks to the STaGE plant andthe various design improvements described above including remodeled enlarged light-weighttwin-skeg hull-form and wind load reduction (Figure 7).
Gas burning is available in all operation modes, including in harbors, achieving highenvironmental performance that meets the emission regulations in the North American ECA.

Figure 7(4)

CO2 reduction effects per cargo unit of Sayaringo

High reliability
The STaGE plant gains high-reliability by combining the proven turbine plant and
DFE-PEM plant and high-redundancy by using different propulsion systems on both port andstarboard sides.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 53 No. 2 (June 2016)8|4. Other features of Sayaringo STaGE
4.1

Maneuverability

One of the important indexes showing LNG carrier performance is ship maneuverability
during port arrival and departure. Due to the continuous tank cover and twin-skeg hull-form, theSayaringo has different wind resistance and fluid properties from single-shaft LNG carriers withconventional tanks. Figure 8 is the simulation results showing in-port maneuverability includingstraight-ahead, pinwheeling, and sideways sliding (docking) conducted by an independent third
party, Japan Marine Science Inc. These results verify the Sayaringo has sufficient in-portmaneuverability that equals or surpasses conventional single-shaft LNG carriers with conventionaltank covers.

Figure 8

4.2

Maneuverability simulations

Flexible gas operation at low load of main engine (Liquid pressure and heataccumulation in cargo tank)More flexible gas operation has been required amid diversified purposes of LNG carrier use
and newly proposed shipping routes such as for shipping shale gas through the Panama Canal.
While passing through the canal or stopping before it, the main engine load is particularly low
because of the decreased gas consumption in the main engine. In this condition, some amount ofgas fuel has to be disposed of by being wastefully combusted in the boiler or gas combustion unit
(without being used for propulsion) to prevent the cargo tank pressure from surpassing theacceptable value. It is important to prevent or minimize such wasteful gas fuel disposal.
In fully loaded conditions, the LNG can store penetrated heat as sensible heat. If theliquid-phase surface under a vapor-liquid equilibrium is partially heated, however, the cargo tankpressure may sometimes increase before gaining sufficient heat store effect. To avoid it, the tankshould be equipped with LNG spray nozzles to cool the liquid phase surface. Then, some of thenozzles are relocated to the upper position so that the liquid phase surface can be sufficiently
sprayed and cooled in fully loaded conditions.
In ballast conditions, the amount of LNG is too small to turn the penetrated heat into sensible
heat. The gas temperature is inevitably and significantly increased due to the penetration heat,
resulting in a cargo tank pressure rise. One solution is to recognize the cargo tanks as accumulatorsand the excess gas as pressure. To avoid this, MHI recommended increasing the cargo tankpressure to 100 kPaG (for example), which is higher than the ordinary upper limit of 25 kPaG, only
in ballast conditions. There is no need to additionally reinforce the tanks to maintain the highpressure because the liquid pressure in ballast conditions is low and allowable. The upper pressure
limits of the tanks are different in ballast and fully loaded conditions, requiring different working
pressure for safety valves. For a specific countermeasure, MHI recommended double-pilot safetyMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 53 No. 2 (June 2016)9valves (Figure 9) for the cargo tanks.

Figure 9

4.3

Double-pilot safety valve

Optimum load sharing (OLS) of the main engine

The DFE-PEM plant changes the number of working DFEs depending on the required
output. Changing the number of working DFEs also significantly changes the DFE load and fuelconsumption in a step-by-step manner at the required output. For example, if the number ofworking DFEs has to be increased to meet the required propulsion speed, the DFE load
significantly drops, resulting in low-efficient operation.
On the other hand, the STaGE plant has different propulsion plants on the port side andstarboard side. It enables OLS by sharing the increased load with the turbine under conditions
where other DFEs are supposed to work to provide the required ship speed (Figure 10).

Figure 10

Optimum load sharing (OLS) of main engine|5. Conclusion
The demand for LNG as a power generation fuel has recently surged worldwide. MHI
developed the Sayaringo STaGE for shipping North American shale gas.
This cutting-edge LNG carrier, which inherits the benefits of the Sayaendo, is based on
MHI's own technologies such as apple-shaped tanks and STaGE propulsion system and ensureshigh ship-shore compatibility for LNG terminals across the globe, achieving excellent shipping
efficiency, fuel efficiency, and environmental performance. The various assessments on theMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 53 No. 2 (June 2016)10

economy and technology verified the excellent benefits of the Sayaringo STaGE even in the early
development stage. Gaining a good reputation, MHI has already received several orders and begun
construction. The Sayaringo STaGE has joined in MHI's specialty LNG carrier lineup as one of theflagship products. MHI intends to continue making efforts to strongly support the global LNG
supply chain by developing LNG carriers that meet diversifying LNG shipping methods andcustomer needs.

References
1. Hiramatsu, S. et al., Sayaendo - New Generation LNGC with Continuous Integrated Tank Cover -,Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 47 No. 3 (2010)
2. Hiramatsu, S. et al., The 155k-m3 Sayaendo: A New Generation LNG Carrier with a Continuous Integrated
Tank Cover, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 49 No. 1 (2012)
3. Watanabe, M., Structural Design and Construction Method for ”Apple Shaped LNG Cargo Tank” , Vol. 53
No. 2 (2016)