MOL Names Newbuilding LNG Carrier For Jera ‘Nohshu Maru’

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) announced the naming of a newbuilding LNG Carrier ordered by a JV of MOL and JERA Co., Inc. (President: Yuji Kakimi; Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo), Trans Pacific Shipping 5 Ltd. (Note 1) Today’s ceremony was held at the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; President: Shunichi Miyanaga; Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo). The new vessel will serve JERA.

Among those on hand for the event were Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. President Satoru Katsuno, who named the ship the Nohshu Maru, after which his wife cut the rope.

The Nohshu Maru is the second vessel for MOL to feature the MHI-developed Sayaringo [saya (pea)-ringo (apple)] cargo tank (Note 2).

Image Credit: mol.co.jp

It also adopts MHI’s state-of-the-art technology-the hybrid dual-shaft Steam Turbine and Gas Engines (STaGE) (Note 3) propulsion system. This is an environment-friendly, economically superior design, which achieves a further reduction in fuel cost while minimizing CO2 emissions.

The vessel will transport LNG that JERA purchases from the Freeport LNG Project in the United States and other suppliers.

The MOL Group draws upon its decades of experience and know-how as the world’s leading LNG carrier owner and management company, and works aggressively to provide safe, high-quality LNG transport services for customers.

Outline of Nohshu Maru

1. Length:  297.5m
2. Breadth:  48.94m
3. Draft:  12.9m
4. LNG tank:  MOSS independent stretched spherical type tank system (with continuous tank cover)
5. Deadweight tonnage:  149,367 tons
6. Tank capacity: About 177,300m3(*)(*) Actual loading capacity in total LNG tank capacity 180,000m3
7. Main engine:  Reheating system steam turbine, electric propulsion motor
8. Speed:  19.5 knots
9. Shipyard:  Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (President: Koji Okura; headquarters: Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture)
10. Ship management company: Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd.

(Note 1)
Shareholders: JERA 50%, MOL 50%

(Note 2)
The individual tanks look like apples, with the upper semi-spheres larger than the lower semi-spheres. The tanks are beneath a continuous cover that looks something like a pea pod. This design maximizes cargo capacity, and the cover helps provide additional hull strength while reducing weight, which in turn saves fuel and reduces transport costs.

(Note 3)
A propulsion system that combines a steam turbine system, which re-heats and uses steam used once in the turbine, with a dual-fuel diesel-electric propulsion system.

It improves heat efficiency by recovering exhaust heat generated by the propulsion system, which runs on natural gas and gas oil.

Reference: mol.co.jp

Source: Maritime Shipping News