FSRU (floating storage and regasification unit)
LNG carrier permanently moored to store LNG and regasify it into a grid, the fastest way to open a gas entry point but with insurance that combines vessel and terminal.
After February 2022, Germany had no regasification terminal and a winter ahead of it. It chartered FSRUs, LNG carriers fitted to store liquefied natural gas and warm it on site, and the first was inaugurated at Wilhelmshaven on December 17, 2022. Timing explains the choice: an FSRU goes in within months, an onshore terminal takes several years. Insurers treat the unit as a vessel (hull, liability, protection and indemnity club) while it floats, and as an LNG terminal for everything touching regasification, the loading arm and the pipeline link. Two risks overlap at the interface: a collision or movement in heavy weather during transfer, which can damage both ship and jetty, and the business interruption of the customer who depends on the gas delivered. Time charters fix a daily rate and suspend payment if the vessel is off hire, which puts the loss-of-revenue risk on the owner. Not to be confused with the FPSO, a crude production and storage unit, nor with the onshore LNG terminal, whose tanks and access controls are not those of a hull.
Textbook case: an FSRU chartered at 160,000 dollars a day feeds a regional grid. A knock at the mooring jetty puts it out of service for 35 days. Hull repair costs 6 million; the lost charter hire, 5.6 million, is settled under loss of hire cover after a 14-day deductible, or 3.4 million paid. The grid drew on its stocks.
FSRU, floating storage and regasification unit, floating LNG terminal, FSRU insurance
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