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Within the last few years, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has considered the risks associated with the carriage of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and other hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) with respect to a proposed convention on liability and compensation for damage in connection with the carriage of these substances by sea. The draft HNS Convention applied to a broad range of substances including oil, gas and chemicals in bulk, packaged goods and residue and vapours from previous cargoes. Damages were defined as including death and personal injury to third parties onboard the vessel or ashore, property, pollution, environmental damage and preventative damage measures. Contributions to a compensation fund were to be made against a formula which included a Vessel Sector Category factor relating to the perceived risk of transporting HNS as cargo. LNG carriers were provisionally grouped in the highest risk Vessel Sector Category with the corresponding financial burden. Therefore, given the excellent safety record of their operations, the LNG Joint Management Group of Pertamina commissioned Lloyd's Register Safety Technology (LRST) to review the historical safety performance of LNG transportation by sea and to examine the predicted performance through risk analysis. Pertamina's support throughout the project and their permission and encouragement to present this paper is gratefully acknowledged. The review of marine incidents involving LNG carriers clearly demonstrated the excellent safety record of these vessels against a number of standards. Much of the relevant experimental work on LNG was carried out in the 1970's and 1980's. This detailed work provided data regarding the potential consequences of a release of LNG and subsequent vapour cloud ignition. The risk analyses of LNG operations and the comparison with other industrial and societal risks is generally based on published data. The results of the study were included in the Indonesian Government's submission to the IMO supporting the need for a risk factor to be included in the categorisation of HNS. The result of the debate was a recognition that perceived and actual risk had to be identified in defining a convention on liability.