NYK has announced the order of its sixth liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) dual-fuel very large LPG / liquefied ammonia gas carrier (VLGC) from Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. (KHI).
The ship will be built at the KHI Sakaide Works shipyard and is set for delivery in 2026.
This vessel is the eighth in NYK’s fleet of LPG-fuelled LPG carriers and the sixth in a new type of vessel capable of carrying ammonia.
In addition to the LPG dual-fuel engine, the ship will reportedly have a shaft generator that can generate electricity during the voyage by using the rotation of the shaft that connects the main engine to the propeller.
Since the diesel generator can be stopped during regular seagoing transit, realising full navigation with LPG fuel will be possible except for the use of a small amount of pilot fuel as an ignition source.
When LPG is used as fuel, exhaust gas from the ordered VLGC will contain at least 95 per cent less sulphur oxide (SOx) and 20 per cent less CO2 than NYK’s conventional VLGCs using heavy-oil fired engines.
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This new VLGC will comply not only with the SOx Global Cap regulations that were tightened from January 2020 but also with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) Phase 3 regulations, which implemented stricter CO2 emission standards from April 2022.
Moreover, the vessel is expected to be given notations by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) as a VLGC that has a preparatory design in accordance with the guidelines issued by ClassNK so that this vessel may use ammonia fuel in the future.
The recent order comes more than two weeks after ClassNK gave Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. and NYK Approval in Principle (AiP) for a ship capable of transporting ammonia and liquefied CO2 (LCO2).
Additionally, earlier this month the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) and NYK announced the signing of a five-year strategic partnership agreement.
