our history

Thermo Service (est. 1977)

Our journey started in 1977 when Thermo Service was established by Tore Foss to serve the market for refrigerated cargo ships. He had broad of experience with marine insulation systems through his work with Teknisk Isolering (TI) at Drammen Slip & Verksted. From the late 1960’s to the 1980’s the shipyard in Drammen (Norway) developed a niche within refrigerated cargo ships and built in total 45 reefers and freezer vessels. His son, Stein Foss, joined the business in the early 1990’s, and the company focused more on the international shipbuilding market as construction of traditional cargo vessels was no longer competitive in Norway. In year 2000, Gunnar Bærheim, a pioneer within insulation of Moss type LNG carriers joined Thermo Service, but the company was still focused on newbuilding and repair of refrigerated cargo ships.

Marine Gas Insulation (est.2009)

Marine Gas Insulation (MGI) was established by Per Ivar Nikolaisen in 2009 to offer insulation systems for gas carriers. Per Ivar also had background from Teknisk Isolering (TI) as well as Finetec and was a pioneer within spray foam insulation systems for LPG carriers. During his work in Korea he got to know Chang Eun Jung who later joined the company. Within MGI spray foam insulation systems were further developed for ethylene carrier applications and eventually also for small scale LNG carriers, whereas I.M.Skaugen’s so called Multigas carriers were the first full scale application. This was a series of 10,000m3 and 12,000m3 LNG carriers based on type C tanks. MGI did also the first insulation system upgrade on a Moss type LNG carrier with spray foam, when the Golar Frost was converted to FSRU Toscana.

LNG New Technologies (est. 2011)

LNG New Technologies was established in 2011 by David Wu, Andreas Norberg, Jørn M. Jonas, Peter S. Bendtsen and Kjetil Sjølie Strand. They had all been heavily involved with design and construction of various types gas carriers in China including LPG carriers, ethylene carriers and the mentioned Multigas small scale LNG carriers. From early 2000 they had been involved in development of small scale LNG carriers and related solutions for Norwegian shipowner I.M.Skaugen which resulted in the mini LNG reliquefaction system and the Mulitgas carriers based on independent tank type C. Over the years they saw a need for larger LNG carriers to serve the growing local and regional trades of LNG. There was a need for vessels larger than what the type C tanks economically could offer, but still smaller than the conventional membrane and Moss type LNG carriers. Thus, the idea of developing a new simple and efficient containment system for LNG evolved and the LNT A-BOX cargo containment system was born.

LNT Marine (est. 2017)

Shortly after its inception LNG New Technologies formed an alliance with MGI to jointly develop the LNT A-BOX containment. A couple of years later MGI merged with Thermo Services to join their forces within various types on insulation systems and MGI Thermo was established. Due to the close cooperation with regards to the LNT A-BOX containment system, LNG New Technologies acquired a stake in MGI Thermo, and finally, in 2017 the partners decided to merge and LNT Marine was established to form a one-stop-shop for LNG containment, LNG fuel tank systems and marine insulation systems.

The first LNT A-BOX cargo containment system was installed in the “Saga Dawn” LNG carrier built at China Merchant Heavy  Industries and delivered to its first owner Saga Shipping in January 2020.

As an expert in storage and transport of liquefied gas and cryogenic insulation, LNT Marine has the competence and experience to play a key role in the green transition and decarbonization of the shipping industry.