Post Date: 28/10/2020 Courtesy : Offshore Energy
Japanese shipping major Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) has taken delivery of Sakura Leader, the first large LNG-fueled pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) built in Japan.
The vessel, featuring a length of 200 metres and a width of 35.8 meters, was built at the Shin Kurushima Dockyard of Shin Kurushima Toyohashi Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. It will be carrying vehicles produced by the Toyota Motor Corporation and other car manufacturers.
In September, NYK unveiled the name of the 7,000 CEU newbuilding.
As explained, vessel modification and the switch to LNG will make the ship up to approximately 40% more energy efficient compared to ships using conventional heavy oil-fired engines.
The vessel is also expected to reduce sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions by approximately 99% and nitrogen oxides (NOx) by approximately 86% compared to ships using conventional heavy oil-fired engines.
Sakura Leader was selected as a model project by Japan’s Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, and will receive support from the ministries for technical verification of CO2 emission reductions during actual voyages.
“This delivery marks a remarkable step toward achieving NYK’s environment management target, which is to reduce CO2 emissions per ton-kilometer of transport by 50% by 2050,” NYK said.
The shipping company is positioning LNG fuel as one of the bridge-solutions until future zero-emission ships are realized. NYK plans to switch all its newly built PCTCs to LNG-fueled vessels about a decade in the future, and is aiming to further advance to zero-emission vessels utilizing low-emission marine fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia from around the mid-2030s.
