Routine maintenance is essential for long-term reliability, especially for equipment that operates for long periods far from a workshop. LNG carriers rely on numerous pieces of equipment to operate safely and efficiently, including the boil-off gas (BOG) compressors, which maintain the gas pressure in the storage tanks within defined parameters.
LNG compressors are vital to the reliable operation of LNG carriers, always maintaining the pressure of the stored gas and often used to supply the vessel’s engines as well. As such, regular maintenance is very important and any problems need to be resolved as quickly as possible.
Handling unexpected challenges
Anthony Veder Rederijzaken B.V. is a prominent gas shipping company with a fleet of 30 modern vessels, all equipped with Laby compressors from Burckhardt Compression.
A recent maintenance intervention on the Coral Siderea was planned for the replacement of the valves. However, during the visit, the field service representative found severe damage to the cylinder, crankshaft and piston, a situation that needed to be resolved as quickly as possible.
The repairs would need the vessel to be in dry dock, which would normally require considerable forward planning. Given the substantial costs of downtime for LNG carriers, a fast resolution was essential. Fortunately, an open dry dock was available is southern Spain and Burckhardt Compression’s network of European service centers would ensure local support would be on-hand.
While the vessel was transferred to the dry dock, specialists at Burckhardt Compression put together a plan for the repairs and started to manufacture the required parts. The project would involve three of the company’s service centers in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland to ensure the fastest conclusion.
Burckhardt Compression
Achieving effective solutions
The most effective repair involved boring the cylinder out and installing an oversized piston, which was shipped from stock parts in Switzerland, along with a new crankshaft that was reworked to fit the exact requirements of this project. At the same time, the flywheel and counterweights were also exchanged and reworked.
For equipment being installed on a marine vessel, every part had to be certified by Bureau Veritas, which all adds to the lead time for the project. However, Burckhardt Compression’s team expedited the whole process and the whole project was completed in just 40 days.
Throughout this period, the repair team provided daily status reports to the customer, as well as having regular meetings with the stakeholders of the project. This ensured that any challenges were quickly resolved and the customer could make plans to restart commercial operations with the Coral Siderea.
Burckhardt Compression