Explorer (IMO 9361079) — FSRU, 151k m³

Specification

As GEM reports it: containment “membrane”, propulsion “steam”.

Hanwha OceanSouth Korea · delivered 2008

Membrane (system not specified)Membrane

Stakes exactly as GEM reports them for this vessel.

Vessels from the same yard, delivered the same year, with the same cargo capacity to the nearest 1,000 m³. A shared design is likely but not certain.

No other tracked vessel shares this yard, delivery year and capacity.

Background on the technology and the terms used on this page.

LNG carrier anatomy
An LNG carrier is a ship built around insulated cargo tanks that hold liquefied gas at minus 162 degrees, with an engine able to burn the cargo vapour that inevitably boils off during the voyage.
Membrane versus Moss tanks
Cargo containment is the system that holds LNG at minus 162 degrees inside a ship, and it comes in two families: membranes, which are thin barriers supported by the hull, and free-standing tanks, which carry their own load.
Propulsion I: steam turbines and why they endured
Steam turbine propulsion drives an LNG carrier by raising steam in boilers that can burn cargo boil-off gas, fuel oil, or any mixture of the two, and turning a turbine geared to a single propeller shaft.
Ship classes: conventional, Q-Flex, Q-Max and small-scale
LNG carriers fall into recognised size classes running from small-scale vessels under 30,000 cubic metres, through the 174,000 cubic metre conventional standard, to the 266,000 cubic metre Q-Max ships built for Qatar.