KRISO, spurring development of eco-friendly ships

▶ KRISO has developed three types of standard vessels for application of eco-friendly technologies and acquired AIP from Korean Register (KR).

□ The Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO, President Keyyong Hong) is spurring the development of eco-friendly small and medium vessels. KRISO has made significant achievements such that the three types of vessels developed by applying the LNG fueled vessel technologies of the Eco-Friendly Vessel Design Technology Project Group (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Project Group’) acquired Approval in Principle (AIP) from the Korean Register(KR).

□ As global regulations on the gas emissions from ships are recently being strengthened, efforts are actively being made in the shipbuilding industry to convert the old conventional bunker oil-fueled vessels to eco-friendly ones.

□ However, compared to large shipbuilding companies, the development of eco-friendly vessel technology by small and medium shipbuilding companies is significantly inferior because they have already gone through troubles both inside and outside, such as the breakaway of human technology resources due to past reconstructing as well as reduction of the number of received orders and financial difficulties due to the global economic recession and competition from other companies.

□ Therefore, the KRISO Project Group has conducted a demand survey with small and medium shipbuilding companies, determined the types of vessels requiring technical support, and taken the initiative in developing technologies for small and medium standard vessels suitable for small and medium shipbuilding companies in order to enter the market of eco-friendly ships and secure business competitiveness.

□ The three vessels developed by the Project Group are a △2,700 TEU Feeder container ship, △ 6,000 TEU bulk carrier, and △7,000 CBM* liquefied carbon dioxide cargo vessel. These are all vessels that can be easily applied by small and medium shipbuilding and design companies, which have difficulties in developing eco-friendly vessel technologies due to the lack of human R&D resources compared to large companies.

*CBM (Cubic Meter); A volume of 1m×1m×1m

□ Particularly, the newly developed vessels were designed by market analysis to determine competitive specifications and allow the vessels to satisfy international standards. In addition, HAZID was conducted to analyze potential hazard factors between the fuel tank and fuel supply systems and reflect them in the design by performing a process analysis of the systems, thereby securing safety and reliability. Furthermore, the vessels were developed through verification including a related model test.

□ In December, the KRISO Project Group will disseminate the newly developed vessels to the companies selected from public invitation, which will apply these designs.

□ Meanwhile, since its establishment in 2022, the KRISO Project Group has continuously and actively carried out various supporting activities for small and medium shipbuilding companies by connecting advanced technologies to the development of eco-friendly vessels, with support from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Busan Metropolitan Government.

□ Keyyong Hong, the President of KRISO, said, “We hope that the development of new standard vessels can be a great help to the small and medium shipbuilding companies.” He added, “KRISO will never spare continuous technical support to the small and medium shipbuilding companies, which still have insufficient human resources and R&D environments for the development of eco-friendly vessels, compared to large companies.”