MOL, NYK and K Line team up to develop liquefied hydrogen carrier

Shipping majors Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) will develop a liquefied hydrogen (LH2) carrier to import hydrogen into Japan.

PHOTO: Concept of a 160,000-cbm hydrogen-powered LH2 carrier. Kawasaki Heavy Industries

The LH2 carrier is expected to be built based on a concept designed by Japanese shipbuilder Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), according to MOL.

Last year, KHI got a concept design for a 160,000-cbm LH2 carrier approved by ClassNK. The ship is designed with dual-fuel hydrogen propulsion that can use boil-off hydrogen gas as fuel.

K Line, MOL and NYK Line will manage the vessel when it is expected to come into operation next year. They will also work towards commercialising LH2 shipping.

The shipping partners will be joined by Japan Suiso Energy (JSE) and its subsidiary JSE Ocean in the LH2 supply chain project. JSE plans to build a large-scale hydrogen liquefaction and import terminal with an initial capacity of 30,000 mt/year.

The first hydrogen imports to Japan are expected to come from Australia.

Japan promotes hydrogen

As part of its decarbonisation strategy, Japan aims to export and import a total of 3 million mt/year of low- and zero-emission hydrogen by 2030. This will then be quadroupled to 12 million mt/year by 2040, and rise further to 20 million mt/year by 2050.

"The target hydrogen supply cost is approximately JPY30 /Nm3 [($0.20/cbm] in 2030 and JPY20 /Nm3 [$0.13/cbm] in 2050 at the point of arrival in Japan," MOL said.

The partners hope to achieve this cost reduction by promoting LH2 transportation at sea, MOL said.

By Konica Bhatt

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