Northern Lights is increasing CO₂ shipping capacity with its third LCO₂ carrier. Like the first two vessels, the gas equipment specialist Svanehøj will supply the cargo pump system. The three ships are the world’s largest of their kind, and the order represents a significant milestone for Svanehøj’s ambitions in Carbon Capture and Storage. 

Svanehøj has added the world’s three largest dedicated CO₂ ships to its reference list.

In 2022, the Danish gas equipment specialist was chosen as the cargo pump supplier for the first two Northern Lights LCO₂ carriers. Earlier this month, Svanehøj added one more ship of similar design to the order book when Northern Lights announced the award of the shipbuilding contract for its third LCO₂carrier. The vessels are built at Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore (DSOC) in China.

Svanehøj supplied its first CO₂ pump system for an LCO₂ carrier in the 1990s. As one of the very few marine pump manufacturers with experience in CO₂ pumping systems, Svanehøj has identified Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) among the future growth segments. The reference from the Northern Lights project is, therefore, of great strategic importance:

– It is of great value to us that the owner and the gas contractor are showing continued trust in our pumps by awarding us this contract for the third Northern Lights carrier. It will also be strategically important for the other projects we are working on. We see a lot of activity in the LCO₂ segment, and we are talking with yards and gas contractors worldwide about opportunities that could materialize in the short term. Although long-term storage of CO₂ is currently in a rudimentary stage, we at Svanehøj already have the experience and competencies to supply the pumping systems, says Nithin Sudarsan, Sales Director (Gas) in Svanehøj.

Northern Lights is developing the world’s first open-source CO₂ transport and storage infrastructure in Norway. The Northern Lights LCO₂ carriers will each have a cargo capacity of 7,500 m³, custom-built with pressurised cargo tanks for transporting liquefied CO₂. Svanehøj will deliver two deepwell CO₂ cargo pumps of 15 metres for each ship. Once operational, the ships will transport CO₂ from industrial emitters in Norway and other European countries to a receiving terminal in western Norway for intermediate storage, before being transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a geological reservoir 2,600 metres under the seabed.