text: Gazeous hydrocarbons, in particular propane, butane and their mixtures are widely used as an alternative to fuel oil heating purposes. The storage and transportation of such gases, especially LPG (abbreviation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas), imposes stringent technical requirements. The material must be carefully selected, continual quality checks must be performed during manufacturing and comprehensive tests must be performed on completed tanks. \n\nThe transport of LPG from the production places to the consumption places is done either by sea or by land transportation.\nThe sea transportation means are called butaners or propaners.\nAmong the land transportation means, we can find :\n\nLPG pipelines \nLPG rail tankers \nLPG road tankers \nLPG delivery trucks (bulk and cylinders) \nIn Europe, in order to increase the competitivity of LPG, the supply costs have been decreased by rationalizing transport and in particular increasing the number of sea terminals.\n\n\n\nLPG is typically transported by dedicated vessels suitable for carrying pressurised, semi-pressurised or refrigerated LPG.\n\nThe pressurised (18-bar, ambient temperatures) or semi-pressurised (5-8 bar, -10 to -20 degrees Celsius) LPG ships carry 3 – 10,000 m3 or 10 - 30,000 m3 respectively. \n\nLarger volumes require refrigerated transport solutions (ambient pressure, but at temperatures as low as -43 degrees Celsius for 100% Propane). Fully refrigerated vessels typically have cargo volumes ranging from 35,000 m3 up to 100,000 m3. Evaluating the markets for LPG transportation world-wide, a trend is developing towards the refrigerated transport of LPG in large volumes. The offshore terminal solution is suitable for all three types of transfer. The loading / un-loading (turnaround) cycle, including the mooring and departure procedures, can usually be achieved in about a day.