Page 31: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2016)

Name: Ethane Crystal World’s Largest Ethane Carrier

Builder: Samsung Heavy Industries

Owner: Reliance Industries, Ltd.

The world’s ? rst very large ethane car- gator Eclipse. is able to transport both ethane and liq- chemical industries.” rier (VLEC), Ethane Crystal, has been With a larger size that supports a more ue? ed petroleum gas (LPG) cargoes. Demand for Ethane Crystal and other delivered to India’s Reliance Industries ef? cient operation that helps make “Ethane Crystal is the world’s larg- ethane carriers currently on order is

Ltd. by South Korean shipbuilder Sam- large-scale ethane transportation more est ethane carrier, featuring multi-cargo driven by a surplus of ethane produced sung Heavy Industries (SHI). economically viable, the VLEC Ethane capability of ethane and LPG based on as a byproduct of shale oil and gas in

The vessel is now the world’s larg- Crystal was built to serve trade routes an eco-friendly design,” said Mun Keun North America. est, purpose-built ethane carrier – com- between North America and India, carry- Ha, EVP-Shipbuilding Drilling Opera- ABS, which classed Ethane Crystal parable in size to today’s very large gas ing ethane that will be used as feedstock tion, SHI. and served as a technical advisor along- carriers (VLGC) – and with its 87,000 for petrochemical production. “We are proud to be the builder for side the owners, shipyard, designer and cu. m. cargo carrying capacity, repre- The ? rst of its kind to be constructed Reliance’s newbuilding program and port and ? ag state teams throughout its sents a signi? cant step up from the larg- with a specially designed GTT Mark III believe that Ethane Crystal, success- development, said the ship is the ? rst of est ethane carriers delivered to date: the membrane cargo containment system, fully delivered on November 9, will be six VLECs scheduled to be delivered un- 37,000 cbm Navigator Aurora and Navi- the state-of-the-art lique? ed gas carrier the vanguard for boosting India’s petro- der ABS Class through 2017.

(Photo: SHI) www.marinelink.com 31

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