NYK is delighted to announce the order of its sixth liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) dual-fuel very large LPG / liquefied ammonia gas carrier (VLGC) from Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. (KHI). The ship will be built at the KHI Sakaide Works shipyard and is set for delivery in 2026.

This vessel is the eighth in NYK's fleet of LPG-fueled LPG carriers and the sixth in a new type of vessel capable of carrying ammonia and thus flexibly responding to various trade patterns.

Furthermore, in addition to the LPG dual-fuel engine, the ship will have a shaft generator that can generate electricity during the voyage by using the rotation of the shaft that connects the main engine to the propeller. Since the diesel generator can be stopped during regular seagoing transit, realizing full navigation with LPG fuel will be possible except for the use of a small amount of pilot fuel as an ignition source.

When LPG is used as fuel, exhaust gas from the ordered VLGC will contain at least 95% less sulfur oxide (SOx) and 20% less CO2 than NYK’s conventional VLGCs using heavy-oil fired engines.

This new VLGC will comply not only with the SOx Global Cap regulations* that were tightened from January 2020 but also with the IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI)** Phase 3 regulations, which implemented stricter CO2 emission standards from April 2022.

Moreover, the vessel is expected to be given notations*** by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) as a VLGC that has a preparatory design in accordance with the guidelines issued by ClassNK so that this vessel may use ammonia fuel in the future.

Length overall: approx. 230 meters
Breadth (moulded): 37.20 meters
Depth (moulded): 21.90 meters
Summer draft (moulded): 11.65 meters
Tank capacity: approx. 86,700 cubic meters

On March 10, 2023, the NYK Group released its medium-term management plan “Sail Green, Drive Transformations 2026 — A Passion for Planetary Wellbeing. ” The NYK Group is promoting growth strategies with ESG at the core, based on the Group’s mission statement of “Bringing value to life” and a new corporate vision for 2030, which reads, “we go beyond the scope of a comprehensive global logistics enterprise to co-create value required for the future by advancing our core business and growing new ones.”

* SOx Global Cap regulations
Since January 2015, SOx emission regulations specifying a fuel sulfur content of 0.1% or less have been enacted in the emission control areas (ECAs) of Europe and the U.S. In addition, beginning in January 2020, vessels traveling in marine areas in all other parts of the world have been required to use fuels with a sulfur content of 0.5% or less, or to use alternative equipment to reduce the SOx content of exhaust gases to an equivalent level.

** EEDI requirements
An international regulation that enforces compliance of newly constructed vessels with energy-saving performance regulation values using the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), which is defined as the number of grams of CO2 emitted when transporting one ton of cargo over one mile. Required EEDI regulation values are made stricter in phases according to the construction contract and delivery dates. This vessel meets Phase 3 requirements (30% reduction in CO2 emissions from the baseline (Phase 0)), which apply to vessels for which the building contract was placed on or after April 1, 2022.

*** Notations
Certification granted by classification societies to ships and systems that meet their requirements.