Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Lines (Mol) has commissioned a LNG-fuelled coal carrier to transport imported coal to fuel power plants operated by Kyushu Electric Power.
Mol on 14 November took delivery of the 95,792 deadweight tonne (dwt) Reimei at Japanese shipbuilder Namura Shipbuilding's Imari shipyard in south Japan's Saga prefecture. The vessel is scheduled to arrive at Tobata in Fukuoka prefecture on 15 November for shore-to-ship LNG bunkering.
Using LNG as a marine fuel is expected to virtually eliminate emissions of sulphur oxide and lower nitrogen oxide emissions by about 80pc and carbon dioxide emissions by 30pc compared with traditional marine fuels, Kyushu said. The new vessel will use around 5,000-6,000 t/yr of LNG, with a few hundred tonnes of LNG refuelled each time, it added.
Kyushu is also planning to supply LNG to the carrier from a 3,500 m³ newly built bunkering vessel Keys Azalea, after the commissioning of the vessel scheduled in March 2024.
Reimei will deliver coal from Australia and North America to Kyushu's coal-fired power plants. This follows the 95,233dwt LNG-fuelled coal carrier Shoyo commissioned on 2 October.
Kyushu has three coal-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 3,460MW. It consumed 2.46mn t of coal during April-September, down by 36pc from a year earlier. Its LNG use also fell by 30pc to 720,000t during this period.
