LNG-fuelled vessels awarded top conservation rating
Published by Lydia Woellwarth,
Editor
LNG Industry,
TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd has announced that three MOL Group vessels – the LNG-fuelled tugboat Ishin and the ferries Sunflower Kurenai and Sunflower Murasaki – have earned the top rating of five stars from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s (MLIT) energy conservation rating system for coastal ships. The rating is based on LNG-fuelled ships’ environmental performance, specifically a reduction of more than 20% in emissions of carbon dioxide compared to vessels powered by conventional heavy oil.
The Ishin, owned by MOL and operated by its group company Nihon Tug-Boat Co., Ltd, and Japan's first LNG-fuelled ferries – the Sunflower Kurenai and Sunflower Murasaki – are under construction and slated for operation by Ferry Sunflower Limited.
The three vessels had already earned the highest rating of four stars under the ministry's temporary rating system, and with the system in full operation, have once again received top honours.
The Ishin, the first LNG-fuelled ship owned by MOL, is in operation and building a solid track record as the first LNG-fuelled tugboat serving Osaka Bay. MOL also promotes the wider use of LNG as a marine fuel as a forerunner in the trend toward LNG-fuelled ships, for example, by co-operating in LNG fuel supply trials in the ports of Kobe and Nagoya.
The Sunflower Kurenai and Sunflower Murasaki are slated for launching from the end of 2022 through the first half of 2023 on the Ferry Sunflower-operated Osaka-Beppu route as an alternative to existing vessels.
The MOL Group sets ‘Promotion of environmental strategies and development of the emission-free business into a core business’ as a core strategy in its Rolling Plan 2020 management plan. The group continually develops technologies for LNG-fuelled ships and strives to reduce the environmental impact of its operations.
Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/16072020/lng-fuelled-vessels-awarded-top-conservation-rating/
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