Japanese shipping firm Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line) completed its first shore-to-ship fuel LNG bunkering on 12 October for a Panamax coal carrier at the port of Tobata in south Japan's Fukuoka prefecture in the Kyushu region.
The 95,233 gross tonne LNG-fuelled coal carrier Shoyo will be operated by NYK Line to import coal for utility Kyushu Electric Power's thermal power plants in Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures. Domestic shipbuilder Oshima Shipbuilding completed construction on 2 October at its Kouyagi shipyard. The vessel is designed to enable both shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship LNG bunkering.
An onshore recipient and loading facility at Tobata port operated by Kyushu's 75pc-owned subsidiary Kitakyushu LNG will supply LNG as a marine fuel to the coal carrier. Shoyo received 923t of LNG during the 12 October refuelling.
This shore-to-ship fuelling was the initial step for NYK Line and Kyushu Electric Power to expand LNG bunkering area to west and south Japan. They signed an agreement on 6 September 2021 with trading house Itochu and gas utility Saibu Gas to study LNG bunkering in the Kyushu and Setouchi areas. NYK Line and Kyushu Electric Power also plan to supply LNG to the ship from a 3,500m³ newly-built bunkering vessel KEYS Azalea in the Kyushu and Setouchi areas, starting after the commissioning of the vessel in March 2024.
Kyushu signed a long-term charter agreement with domestic shipping company Mitsui OSK Line to operate another LNG-fuelled coal carrier, expecting to receive it by 14 November from Namura Shipbuilding. Kyushu did not disclose if this ship is also built for both shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship bunkering.
NYK is also operating five LNG-fuelled car carriers. The vessels receive marine LNG from the LNG bunkering barge Kaguya by ship-to-ship operation at Ise/Miyake bay in Japan's central Chubu area. The barge is based at power utility Jera's Kawagoe LNG import terminal in Mie prefecture.
