MOL takes delivery of LNG-capable coal carrier

Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has taken delivery of an LNG-capable dual-fuel coal carrier fitted with a wind sail.

IMAGE: The LNG dual-fuel and WAPS-equipped Maizuru Kazenomai. MOL

The 95,000-dwt Maizuru Kazenomai was built by Japan's Oshima Shipbuilding. It will carry coal for Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power to its Maizuru Power Plant.

The vessel has a dual-fuel main engine that can burn LNG as its primary fuel. It also has a hard-sail wind-assisted propulsion system (WAPS), which MOL has developed with Oshima Shipbuilding.

MOL said it plans to have 25 vessels equipped with its hard-sail system by 2030, and 80 by 2035.

Last month, MOL named a WAPS-equipped LNG carrier at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje Shipyard in South Korea.

In April, MOL and power generation company Electric Power Development (J-Power) retrofitted a coal carrier with WAPS.

In the same month, classification society ClassNK gave approval in principle to a 40,000-cbm liquefied CO2 carrier design with three of the sails. MOL developed the design with Samsung Heavy Industries.

Shipowners across several vessel types have turned to WAPS in recent months.

MOL has also added other LNG dual-fuel ships to its fleet this year, and signed deals for more. In January, it signed a long-term charter with carbon capture and storage venture Northern Lights for two LNG dual-fuel liquefied CO2 carriers.

In April, it chartered an LNG dual-fuel gas carrier to Japanese energy company INPEX. In August, Norwegian energy firm Equinor agreed to charter an LNG dual-fuel very large crude carrier (VLCC) from MOL.

In May, MOL signed an annual contract with Canadian LNG bunker supplier Seaspan Energy to bunker its LNG-capable car carriers in Vancouver.

Data from DNV shows 961 LNG dual-fuel vessels in operation, of which 75 are bulk carriers. Another 772 are on order through 2033, according to DNV.

By Nachiket Tekawade

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