No ‘gas’ work when it comes to safety

It might sound dangerous to be sailing in the open sea on a vessel filled with liquefied combustible gas.

But the crew on board liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier BW Pavilion Vanda is safe, said Captain Geoffrey Pearson, the general manager of BW Fleet Management, who looks after the safety and security of the LNG vessels.

BW Pavilion Vanda is more than capable of handling threats like pirate attacks and leakages of combustible gas or liquid, he said.

The vessel stores LNG in four heavily-insulated and protected tanks and has fire-resistant rooms that are designed to withstand fires for up to an hour.

However, to ensure safety, mobile phones are not allowed to be used while boarding or getting off the ship as the spark produced from the mobile phone may ignite any vapours on the carrier.

The BW Pavilion Vanda is owned by home-grown Pavilion Energy in a joint venture with BW Group, which is headquartered in Singapore and Oslo, Norway.

The LNG carrier has an average of 20 crew members and was commissioned in December last year.

The carrier will eventually be used to transport LNG from around the world to Singapore if the import licence is approved.

https://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/no-gas-work-when-it-comes-safety