LNG

Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines and group company Ferry Sunflower Limited said that the “Sunflower Kurenai” received its first LNG fuel supply at the Port of Beppu in Oita Prefecture.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries has held a naming ceremony at the Sakaide shipyard for Japan’s first liquefied natural gas bunkering vessel, the “Kaguya”, as Japanese companies respond to the International Maritime Organization’s campaign for cleaner fuel in the shipping industry.

Jan 26 (LNGJ) - Four Japanese companies have begun joint discussions on the commercialization of a new business to supply LNG as a marine fuel for ships in the Chubu region of Japan. The companies are Japanese shipping line Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, known as K-Line, the utility Chubu Electric Power, trading company Toyota Tsusho Corp. and Japanese shipbuilder Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha. “LNG is expected to become an important alternative to heavy fuel oil due to its relatively low emissions of air-polluting substances and greenhouse gases, which will enable ships to meet increasingly stringent international regulations on emissions,” the four companies said in a statement.

Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) said it planned to build the first LNG-fueled tugboat to operate in Osaka Bay from April 2019 and the development of the ship will also coincide with LNG fuel and bunkering availability in the region and the building of other clean-fuel ships, including a ferry .