Japanese shipping firm Mitsui OSK Line (Mol) has received LNG as a marine fuel for its domestic passenger ferry that will start commercial operations in January.
The 17,300 gross tonne (gt) Sunflower Kurenai, with two 260m³ LNG tanks, took delivery on 22 December of around 100t of LNG in a truck-to-ship operation at Beppu port in south Japan's Oita prefecture. Four tanker trucks refuelled the ferry with LNG that was supplied from the Oita LNG terminal, 98pc owned by utility Kyushu Electric Power.
The LNG supplied will be used for test voyages before the ferry starts commercial operations on 13 January, linking Osaka's Nanko port with Beppu that will be Sunflower Kurenai's LNG bunkering terminal.
Mol will also launch another passenger ferry Sunflower Murasaki with the same specifications as Sunflower Kurenai in March 2023. They are replacing Mol's existing 9,245gt conventional passenger ferries built in 1997-98.
The new ferries can run on LNG and very low-sulphur fuel oil, while they are expected to cut 25pc of carbon dioxide, 100pc of sulphur oxide and 85pc of nitrogen oxide emissions, Mol said.
Japanese shipping firms buy LNG for LNG-fuelled vessels based on the Japanese LNG Cocktail (JLC), mainly supplied from domestic power and gas firms, according to market participants. JLC is the monthly average of Japan's LNG import prices.
