DNV and the Liberian Registry have awarded an Approval in Principle (AiP) to South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) for a 12,000-cbm LNG bunkering vessel designed for cruise ships.
The AiP was presented at Gastech 2026 in a ceremony attended by HD HHI CTO Ryu Hong Ryeul and DNV Regional Manager for Korea & Japan Vidar Dolonen.
The vessel has been designed around some of the challenges involved in bunkering large cruise ships. Unlike conventional LNG bunker vessels, the design removes the bridge wings to prevent them from coming into contact with lifeboats and other structures that extend from cruise ships during ship-to-ship bunkering.
The reduced side visibility is addressed through CCTV and HD HHI’s HiNAS SVM system. The technology combines feeds from multiple fisheye cameras to provide a 360-degree top-view augmented-reality image around the vessel.
HD HHI said the 12,000-cbm vessel could allow cruise ships to bunker LNG directly from another vessel without requiring a floating pontoon, potentially providing greater flexibility in bunker operations.
The company also said the design could be used to bunker conventional merchant ships, potentially expanding the vessel’s application beyond the cruise sector.
The AiP confirms that the concept has been assessed against defined requirements and that no major technical barriers to its implementation have been identified.
