On June 3, at the Nor-Shipping 2025 event held in Oslo, Norway, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, HD Korean Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and the Korean Register (KR) signed a business agreement for the design of liquefied gas transport ship Type-C tank structures using Structural Integrity Assessment (ECA).
In recent years, with the accelerating trend of decarbonization in the shipping industry, the demand for ships using environmentally friendly fuels such as LNG, ammonia, and hydrogen has been increasing. These fuels are mostly stored and transported in the form of liquefied gas at high pressure and ultra-low temperatures, making the structural safety of such fuel tanks a core technology for ensuring the design of eco-friendly ships.
The signing of this agreement by the three parties aims to proactively address these technical requirements, ensuring the structural safety and design reliability of the most commonly used IMO Type-C independent tanks in eco-friendly ships, thereby leading the advancement of eco-friendly ship technology. Due to the structural independence of Type-C tanks and their ability to carry high-pressure cargo, their application is increasing in the fields of medium and small gas transport ships and bunkering vessels.
To this end, the three parties have decided to apply precise structural analysis techniques—Structural Integrity Assessment—starting from the early design phase of the Type-C tanks. Structural Integrity Assessment is an engineering method based on fracture mechanics theory, which simulates and predicts potential cracks in metal structures and analyzes whether the structures can be safely used under actual operating conditions, particularly effective for the design of liquefied gas storage tanks that require high pressure and ultra-low temperature conditions.
According to this agreement, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries will be responsible for evaluating the structural strength and fatigue strength of the tanks, HD Korean Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering will handle structural design and structural integrity assessment; the Korean Register plans to study the safety and suitability of the design based on the classification society rules and the international IGC code for liquefied gas transport ships, and will grant an Approval in Principle (AIP) certificate.
Lee Dong-jin, Executive of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, stated: “Through this cooperation, if we receive AIP approval in the future, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ competitiveness in the eco-friendly ship market will be further enhanced. The company will continue to lead the shipbuilding and marine industry by continuously developing high value-added technologies.”
Lee Dong-joo, Executive of HD Korean Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, expressed: “We hope that this joint development project, which applies advanced structural assessment technology, can ensure both the structural safety and design rationality of eco-friendly ship fuel storage tanks, achieving meaningful technological progress.”
Yun Gyu-jin, Executive of the Korean Register, remarked: “This cooperation is a great opportunity to formally introduce structural design based on structural integrity assessment. The Korean Register will also do its utmost to provide technical support for the development of a new generation of eco-friendly ships in the Korean shipbuilding industry.”
