Mark III system debonding issues first surfaced with BG Group’s Samsung Heavy Industries-built, 138,200-cbm Methane Kari Elin (built 2004) shortly after the vessel was delivered.
In the years following concerns surfaced on close to 20 vessels.
GTT, class, shipowners and Samsung in particular worked hard to get to the root causes of the bonding problems, which are now thought to be related to a combination of factors the importance of which were less well understood when the systems were first installed.
