Fitted with advanced safety equipment and a modern integrated control system for cargo and propulsion machinery, the ships are designed to ensure reliable and smooth deliveries to customers throughout the world.

Each vessel's twin-boiler and steam turbine drives a four-bladed propeller and provides flexible, reliable and economic operation over a wide power range. The boilers are capable of using either fuel oil or 'boil-off' gas from the LNG cargo, or combinations of both.

The first eight sisterships are of the 'Moss Rosenberg' design. Each is equipped with four spherical tanks that give the vessels their distinctive outline and hold the liquefied natural gas. They are nearly 40 metres in diameter giving each ship a total capacity of 125,000 cubic metres. LNG can be loaded at 10,000 cubic metres per hour and discharged at 11,000 cubic metres per hour.

At 272 metres in length overall and 47 metres in width, the eight existing ships have a designed draught of about 11 metres - considerably less than a crude oil carrier of similar dimensions - reflecting the fact that the LNG has a specific gravity of only 0.46.

Our newest vessel, the NOrthwest Swan, was built in the Korean shipyard of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and delivered in March 2004. Using the membrane containment system, with a length of 287 metres, a beam of 43.4 metres and a maximum draught of 11.5 metres, the new ship is slightly larger with a capacity of 138,500 cubic metres.

Each vessel takes approximately 21 days to compete an Australia-Japan-Australia round voyage.