GASVESSEL · Project

Ship-Based Compressed Natural Gas Delivery to Places Pipelines Can't Reach

energyTestedTRL 5

Imagine islands or remote coastal areas that can't get natural gas because building a pipeline or a massive import terminal is too expensive. GASVESSEL designed a new kind of cargo ship with specially built pressure tanks that can carry compressed natural gas directly to these locations — like a floating gas truck for the sea. They also built a decision support tool that tells you whether shipping CNG to a specific place actually makes financial sense compared to alternatives. The project even tackled the tricky part of safely loading and unloading high-pressure gas at port.

By the numbers

consortium partners across industry and research

countries represented in the consortium

94%

industry ratio in the consortium

SMEs participating in the project

total project deliverables produced

The business problem

What needed solving

Remote coastal areas and islands across Europe still rely on expensive diesel or lack access to natural gas entirely, because building pipelines or LNG regasification terminals requires massive capital investment that small markets can't justify. Meanwhile, enormous volumes of associated and stranded gas at oil production sites worldwide are simply burned off (flared) because there's no economical way to get them to market. Both problems come down to the same gap: affordable, flexible gas transport for routes where traditional infrastructure doesn't make sense.

The solution

What was built

The project produced 26 deliverables including a patented pressure vessel manufacturing technology, a new conceptual CNG carrier ship design with safe high-pressure on- and offloading solutions, and a decision support model (demonstrator) for simulating and benchmarking CNG transport scenarios against alternatives.

Audience

Who needs this

Maritime shipping companies looking to enter CNG transportIsland and remote coastal energy utilities without pipeline accessOil and gas producers with stranded or flared gas assetsPort authorities and energy terminal operators in the MediterraneanNaval engineering and shipbuilding firms seeking next-generation vessel designs

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Maritime gas logistics

enterprise

Target: Shipping companies and gas transport operators

If you are a maritime logistics operator looking to enter the small-scale LNG/CNG delivery market — this project developed a new ship design with patented pressure vessel technology and safe high-pressure on- and offloading solutions. The decision support model lets you simulate cost-benefit scenarios for specific routes before committing capital. With 17 partners across 10 countries validating the concept, the technical groundwork for a CNG carrier fleet is already done.

Energy supply for islands and remote regions

mid-size

Target: Regional energy utilities and island grid operators

If you are a utility serving Mediterranean islands or coastal communities that lack pipeline connections and can't justify a regasification terminal — this project proved the feasibility of delivering compressed natural gas by ship at competitive cost. The environmental impact analysis and value chain business cases were built around exactly your kind of real-life geo-logistic scenario. This means you could switch from expensive diesel generation to cleaner natural gas without massive infrastructure investment.

Oil and gas upstream

enterprise

Target: Oil producers dealing with stranded or flared gas

If you are an oil producer currently flaring associated gas because there's no pipeline nearby to monetize it — this project designed a transport system specifically to capture and ship that wasted gas to market. The cost-benefit analyses cover financial viability for stranded and associated gas scenarios. Instead of burning money at the flare stack, you could turn a waste stream into a revenue stream using CNG shipping.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to adopt this CNG shipping technology?

The project focused on proving techno-economic feasibility through cost-benefit analyses and financial viability studies for different geo-logistic scenarios. Specific vessel or per-unit transport costs are not published in the available project data. You would need to engage the consortium to run their decision support model against your specific route and volume.

Can this scale to industrial-volume gas transport?

The concept was designed for commercial-scale maritime CNG transport, not small laboratory quantities. The ship design and pressure vessel manufacturing technology were developed with real shipping routes in mind, including supply to Mediterranean islands. However, actual fleet deployment would require further investment beyond this research project.

Who owns the intellectual property and how can I license it?

The project explicitly mentions a patented Pressure Vessel manufacturing technology at its core. IP is held by the consortium, coordinated by NAVALPROGETTI SRL in Italy. Licensing or technology access would need to be negotiated directly with the relevant consortium partners.

Has this been tested in real maritime conditions?

The project performed validation and proof of concept through cost-benefit analyses, safety assessments, and environmental impact analyses tied to real-life geo-logistic scenarios. A decision support model was delivered as a demonstrator. Based on available project data, physical sea trials of a full-scale vessel are not indicated — the focus was on prototype technologies and feasibility proof.

How does this compare to LNG shipping?

CNG shipping avoids the need for expensive liquefaction and regasification infrastructure, making it potentially more cost-effective for shorter distances and smaller volumes. The decision support model built by the project can benchmark CNG against alternative transport methods for specific scenarios. This positions CNG as a complement to LNG for routes where large terminal investments are not feasible.

What regulatory approvals would be needed?

The project included safety assessments as part of its validation work, which would inform the regulatory approval process. Maritime CNG transport would need to comply with classification society rules and flag state regulations. Based on available project data, specific regulatory certifications were not listed among the deliverables.

Consortium

Who built it

This is an overwhelmingly industry-driven consortium: 16 out of 17 partners come from the private sector, with only 1 research organization and zero universities. That 94% industry ratio is unusually high for an EU research project and signals strong commercial motivation. Half the partners (8) are SMEs, which typically means specialized technology providers rather than large corporate R&D departments. The coordinator, NAVALPROGETTI SRL, is itself an Italian SME in naval engineering. With partners spread across 10 countries including major maritime nations (Norway, Netherlands, UK, Germany, Italy, Greece), the consortium covers the key European shipping and energy markets. This composition strongly suggests the technology was developed with real market deployment in mind, not just academic publication.

ESTECO SPAparticipant · IT
SINTEF OCEAN ASparticipant · NO
PNO CONSULTANTS BVthirdparty · NL
PNO INNOVATION SRLthirdparty · IT
DOW DEUTSCHLAND ANLAGENGESELLSCHAFTMBHparticipant · DE
PNO INNOVATIONparticipant · BE

How to reach the team

NAVALPROGETTI SRL (Italy) — naval engineering SME, project coordinator. Contact via SciTransfer for a warm introduction.

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Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to evaluate CNG shipping for your specific route or gas supply challenge? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the GASVESSEL consortium and arrange a technical briefing. Contact us for a one-page solution brief.

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