A group of dignitaries including President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania, 

Chairman Leif Hoegh LNG of Norway and Chairman Lee Jai-seong of 

Hyundai Heavy Industries pose for a photo session following the 

naming ceremony for the LNG Floating Storage and Regasification Unit as 

Independence at the Hyundai Heavy dockyard in Ulsan on Feb. 19. 

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. has completed the construction of an LNG Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) at its shipyard in Ulsan for Hoegh LNG with the capacity to hold 170,000 cubic meters of the energy product and held a naming ceremony for the facility on Feb. 19 at its shipyard, a first for the Korean shipbuilding industry

About 130 dignitaries were on hand in the ceremony led by President Dalia Grybaus-kaite of Lithuania, Chairman Leif Hoegh of Hoegh LNG, and Chairman Lee Jai-seong of Hyundai Heavy Industries. The Lithuanian president named the floating LNG storage unit “Independence” at the ceremony.

Called “a floating LNG base in the sea” for its enormous size, the LNG-FSRU is 294 meters long, 46 meters wide, and 26 meters high, three times bigger than a football field, and will be anchored off the coast of Lithuania to store 70,000 tons of LNG and supply the fuel to consumers in the eastern European nation.

Naming the LNG FSRU “Independence” was due to the Lithuanians’ moves to reduce imports of LNG from Russia and be independent in the supply of LNG, ultimately relying on no foreign suppliers, thus the LNG storage vessel is the first step in that direction.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Chairman Lee, in his congratulatory speech, said he is glad that the LNG FSRU that Hyundai Heavy has successfully built is to play a huge role in the supply of LNG to the eastern European nation and he would like to see Hyundai Heavy in close cooperation with Lithuania in the construction of its energy infrastructure.

A view of the Independence, a LNG FSRU, 294 meters long and 46 

meter wide and 26 meters tall with the capacity to store 170,000 

cubic meters of LNG on a trial run.(Photos:HHI:article by SK Lee)

An LNG FSRU is a floating LNG storage and regasification unit with the facilities to liquefy LNG and store it and later regasify it in order to supply the fuel to consumers. The construction period for an LNG FSRU is a year shorter than LNG storage and supply facilities on land and, therefore, its demand worldwide is rising fast in such areas as Central and South America and Southeast Asia where energy supply is lacking and there is a need for a quick supply of energy.

As it is anchored off the coast, it has many advantages including the lessening of the problems associated with building the facilities on land like the reluctance of neighboring residents in fear of accidents at the facilities, as well as its mobility as it can be moved to another location on short notice.

Hyundai Heavy was able to develop its own technology to build the facilities after two years of research and development, and unlike the same type of LNG storage vessels used in the Middle East, it requires maintenance only once every 10 years, a far longer period than the five years for those built and operated by other LNG FSRU makers, resulting in lower maintenance costs.

The shipyard got the order for two LNG FSRU vessels from Hoegh LNG of Norway in 2011 and two more in February and October 2012, a total of four such facilities for the Norwegian LNG company, the shipyard said.

In the meantime, Hyundai Heavy said it has installed a sea wind power generator of 5.5 Mw in the Gimnyong Wind Power Plant Complex on Jeju Island to be able to supply electricity to 1,100 homes. The sea wind power generator is 100 meters tall with blades 70 meters long, which will be test-run from March and receive international certification within this year for commercial use.

The wind power generator can withstand 62.5 meters-per-second wind speeds, is corrosive-resistant, and has built-in cranes inside the tower to make maintenance and repair jobs easier.

Hyundai Heavy has scheduled a tour program for the new wind power generator at the 2nd Asia Wind Power Energy Expo at the Jeju International Convention Center from Feb. 19-21 so that the generator can be introduced to global wind power experts.