The shipment of LNG has grown steadily since 1958 when the first ship to carry LNG, the ‘Methane Pioneer’, carried 5,000 m3 of LNG from the USA to the UK. By mid 2006 the world fleet of LNG Carriers had grown to over 200 ships in service. By early 2009 this figure was over 300 and during 2011 the number of LNG Carriers operating worldwide will exceed 400.

LNG Shipping possesses the most envied safety record in world shipping, with no significant accident or cargo spillage in its first 40 years spanning more than 40,000 sea voyages. However, with a lack of training berths on the existing tonnage and new operations evolving in countries with no LNG experience the industry must work hard to retain that position.

The introduction of a system of internationally recognised and structured training programs was necessary and, in November 2005, SIGTTO went a long way to fulfilling that requirement by releasing the 1st version of its LNG Shipping Competency Standards to provide guidance and suggested best practice for the industry. These standards were reviewed and accepted by an IMO sub-committee in the spring of 2006 and published by SIGTTO shortly afterwards with a 2nd edition being published in December 2008.

The LNG Shipping Competency Standards summarized the tasks and knowledge considered necessary to perform in the industry, broken down by rank. ‘LNG Shipping Knowledge’, closely follows that format, providing the actual underpinning knowledge that is asked for in each instance.

This makes it a powerful set of supporting documents to the ‘LNG Shipping Competency Standards’, providing and filling in information that is either not available within the public domain or that is available but unsatisfactorily verified and credited.During the course of the construction of this publication, technical expertise has been sought from many and varied sources, ensuring that there is no equipment or company bias within.