The mighty Korean yard of Hyundai Heavy Industries ranks among the top LNG tanker builders in the world, but up till now only Moss spherical-type tank systems have been employed -although Gaz Transport and Technigaz membrane licences were actually signed earlier than that for the Moss Maritime system. At the time of writing a total of three 125,000m~3 and seven 135,000m~3 Moss-type ships had been delivered, with one 137,000m~3 ship and four of 141,000m~3 on order. Today, this situation is changing, as the yard prepares to deliver its first membrane-type tanker, to Golar in December this year, and has a further three ships of 150,000m~3 on order. It seems likely that membrane designs will dominate in the future, although Moss spherical tanks remain the first option at Hyundai for any floating offshore terminals that may be built, due to their excellent sloshing characteristics at part-load conditions that will certainly be experienced on such moored terminals. Tank size would probably be greater than those for current ship designs.
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