What is the safety record of transporting LNG?
Since England received the first shipment of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) via ocean-going vessel in 1964, there have been more than 33,000 LNG vessel voyages, sailing more than 60 million miles without an accident involving loss of life or harm to the environment. The shipping and handling of any fuel – whether coal, gasoline, propane or LNG – engenders some element of risk. However, the design and construction of LNG vessels makes them the most expensive vessels in the global commercial fleet. They are specifically designed and insulated to transport the ultra-cold LNG. They are double-hulled and multi-compartmented, which means that it would be very difficult for the entire load to spill, because several compartments would have to be breached. Finally, multiple layers of internal insulation limit evaporation of the LNG, and the “boil-off” – LNG that does evaporate – is captured and used as vessel fuel. Since 1964, there have been just eight incidents reported on LNG vessels – six smal
