The LNG/C Matthew

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The LNG/C Matthew (originally El Paso Howard Boyd) was built in 1978 by Newport News Shipbuilding. The new owners, Cabot LNG Inc., recognized the need to replace the engine room’s obsolete 1970s-vintage hardwired electronic control systems. Download more information (1 MB Adobe Acrobat file) about the LNG/C Matthew automation project.

G.R. Bowler's Scope of supply:

• Safety, reliability, and twenty years of serviceability for its new systems
• ABS type-approved, Siemens Moore, APACS systems hardware and ProcessSuite HMI software
• Bridge throttle control, monitoring, and alarm and data management functions for the main propulsion machinery and engine room auxiliaries
• Seamless architecture of control hardware and communications software suited for the LNG vessel’s complex, dual-fuel strategies

Benefits of G.R. Bowler automation architecture:

•   Dual-fuel systems (heavy, #6 fuel oil and LNG boil-off):
•    maximize efficiency of the combustion process (dual-fuel, combustion control)
•   fuel the vessel’s propulsion boilers, and
•   provide an added safety feature.
•   Troubleshooting and adjustment of plant operations is streamlined by real-time, comprehensive observation and graphing of plant variables (on monitor screens).
•   Main turbines, total systems observation, and access to selected alarms are controlled from the bridge.
•   Systems can be monitored and controlled from shore.
•   New officers find the superior operator interface and display graphics easy to understand and use.

System Update: January 1999: Commissioning is complete and Cabot LNG Shipping is currently transporting liquefied natural gas aboard the LNG/C Matthew from Point Fort in Trinidad to Boston, Massachusetts on a regular schedule. (The ship is now owned by Tractebel and operated by Hoegh Fleet Services.)