KEYS launches LNG bunkering vessel in Japan

Bunker supplier KEYS Bunkering West Japan (KEYS) has launched a dual-fuel LNG bunkering vessel to serve vessels calling at ports in the Kyushu-Setouchi area in Japan.

PHOTO: Area for planned LNG bunkering by KEYS Azalea. KEYS

The LNG bunkering vessel, KEYS Azalea, can run on both LNG and conventional fuel oil – making it Japan’s first LNG bunkering vessel to be able to do so, KEYS claims.

It is under construction at Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works' Enoura Plant, which is owned by Japanese engineering giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The vessel is expected to be completed by March 2024.

Following delivery, the vessel will be deployed as part of “the LNG coastal transportation business” along with providing LNG bunkering to ships calling at ports in the Kyushu-Setouchi area. The bunkering project will “supply LNG to vessels over the vast Kyushu and Setouchi area.”

KEYS is a joint venture between electric power company Kyushu Electric Power, shipping line NYK Line, electrical service firm ITOCHU ENEX, and gas company Saibu Gas.

LNG “is expected to be a bridge solution for decarbonization, virtually eliminating sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions and reducing approximately 80% of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, as well as 30% of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions,” KEYS says.

LNG can curb carbon dioxide emissions by about a quarter compared to conventional bunker fuels. But its methane emissions can be 36 times more potent as a greenhouse gas (GHG) compared to carbon dioxide over a century, according to a World Bank study.

By Tuhin Roy

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