MOL launches LNG dual-fuel car carrier

Japanese shipping line Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has launched an LNG dual-fuel car carrier Celeste Ace.

PHOTO: LNG dual-fuel car carrier Celeste Ace. MOL

The car carrier, capable of running on both LNG and conventional marine fuel oil, has been built by Shin Kurushima Dockyard in Ehime, Japan.

It will be used to transport vehicles, including those from Nissan Motor.

This will be the sixth LNG dual-fuel car carrier under MOL's operation, out of a planned 14. The company aims to have 90 LNG-powered and methanol-fueled vessels in operation by 2030.

In March, MOL received the LNG dual-fuel car carrier Cerulean Ace from Onishi Shipyard, and in July, it took delivery of Turquoise Ace from Imabari’s Tadotsu Shipyard, both in Japan.

“LNG can reduce 25% to 30% of CO2 emissions compared to conventional fuel oil,” MOL 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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