EnerSea Transport LLC, setting a course to bring offshore stranded reserves to North America by 2006 via a compressed natural gas (CNG) system, has added Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (K Line) to its maritime team, which will own and operate the future marine vessels. K Line’s alliance is part of EnerSea’s plan to deploy its Volume Optimized Transport and Storage system, otherwise known as VOTRANS.

In just the past two months, EnerSea has set up three strategic alliances, including one with the largest shipbuilder in the world, as well as an alliance with Atlantic Canada to eventually bring CNG from its remote offshore locations (see NGI, July 8).

The state-of-the-art VOTRANS system is capable of moving up to 2 Bcf of CNG per ship over distances of up to 4,000 miles at what the company said is a lower total cost than via liquefied natural gas (LNG) or pipelines. LNG cargoes typically are about 2.6 Bcf. Earlier this month, EnerSea announced its partnership with Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (HHI) to build the transport vessels. HHI has about 15% of the global shipbuilding market, including 41 gas-carrying vessels (LNG and liquefied petroleum gas) to date. It is now building 13 similar vessels.

“With K Line as EnerSea’s ship owner/operator and Hyundai Heavy Industries as our ship builder, we have created the perfect path to our ultimate goal of developing and delivering currently stranded gas to energy-hungry markets, said Paul Britton, managing director of the Houston-based company. “Creating a new industry for CNG demands world-class partners that have a history of innovation and proven success in developing large-scale gas transport projects.” He said the team was now in place to successfully complete the work to commercialize VOTRANS.

Hisashi Yasui, the director of the Tokyo-based K Line, said EnerSea was building the “next generation of gas ships,” and noted that as owner and operator of the vessels, his company’s operations expertise “will be put to good account for this epoch-making technology.” K Line now owns and operates about 300 different types of vessels, including 22 LNG carriers with five “new builds” now on order. EnerSea and K Line also have committed to the American Bureau of Shipping to work toward a “Class Approval in Principle” for the VOTRANS design. Houston-based maritime broker Lone Star R.S. Platou & Braemar Inc. helped create the alliance.

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