MOL to build four more LNG-fueled car carriers, undertake other green shipping initiatives

Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said May 9 it had inked an agreement with Nihon Shipyard Co. and Shin Kurushima Dockyard Co. to build four 7,000-unit capacity car carriers that run on LNG as part of MOL's target to launch 90 LNG-fueled vessels by 2030.

The move is in line with MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.1, as MOL efforts to achieve sustainable net-zero greenhouse gases emissions.

"The vessels are the second series following four LNG-fueled car carriers, which are slated for delivery in 2024," MOL said in the statement, adding that the new carriers will bring the company's total orders for LNG-fueled car carriers to eight.

MOL also said in a statement on May 10 that it had inked a contract with US-headquartered Clean Air Engineering Maritime Inc., a ship-auxiliary generator exhaust treatment company, to develop a new-generation marine exhaust treatment system for use on MOL operating car carriers from 2025 to prevent air pollution in California.

"According to the California Air Resources Board 'At-Berth Regulation', which regulates the emission of exhaust from diesel auxiliary engines on certain classes of ships arriving in California ports in the United States, regulated ships calling in that state are required to reduce the amount of air pollutants ... emitted during their mooring at ports," MOL said.

Regulations began for container ships in 2007, and car carriers are scheduled to be included in the regulations in 2025.

Sustainable shipping initiatives

MOL in 2021 signed an agreement to construct LPG-fueled very large gas carriers to transport LPG and ammonia. The company in February completed a concept study on an ammonia floating storage and regasification unit and embarked on the development of alternative fuels.

MOL said Feb. 1 it had completed developing a hard sail system at the Oshima shipyard under its "Wind Challenger" project that harnesses wind as a propulsive force for merchant ships.

In March, MOL forged a partnership with other maritime players to develop Japan's first methanol-fueled domestic tanker. Earlier in April, MOL said its subsidiary MOL Chemical Tankers, or MOLCT, global commodity trading company Trafigura and its vessel fuel supply joint-venture TFG Marine, had inked an agreement for a joint study on full-scale supply of biodiesel fuel.

As part of the joint study, the companies had conducted a sea trial using TFG Marine-supplied biodiesel fuel on the MOLCT-operated chemical tanker Niseko Galaxy, MOL said, adding that about 200 mt of biodiesel fuel were bunkered at the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, early March.

The use of biodiesel fuel was expected to achieve a 25%-30% reduction in CO2 emissions on a mix of 30% biodiesel fuel and 70% conventional heavy fuel oil, MOL had said.

On April 26, the world's first pure battery tanker -- Asahi -- bunkered fuel on an MOL-operated car carrier in Yokohama. Asahi's lithium-ion batteries powered every phase of the ship's operations, including cargo handling, berthing, unberthing, and navigation.