• 07 Mar 2019

Japan Marine United Corporation (JMU) has entered into a building contract for an LNG bunkering vessel with Ecobunker Shipping.

The dual fuel vessel will be built as a part of Ship-to-Ship LNG fuel supply business in Tokyo Bay by the joint venture Ecobunker Shipping established by the trio Sumitomo Corporation, Uyeno Transtech, and Yokohama-Kawasaki International Port Corporation, and will start operations in Tokyo Bay in 2020.

The business will be subsidized from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism.

JMU has completed the concept design for the vessel and  the LNG system and will supervise the whole project. Hull design and construction will be subcontracted to Fukuoka Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., while the LNG tank fabrication including the LNG cargo handling system will be assigned to Filipino company  Atlantic,Gulf & Pacific Company (AG&P).

LNG tank type for the vessel will be a SPB (Self Supporting Prismatic IMO Tpe B) System, the original containment system for liquefied gas developed by IHI and JMU.

Regarding the vessel’s details, it will be 95.57 meters long, 15.8 meters wide, with a gross tonnage of 4,100 tonnes. Its LNG tank capacity will be 2,500m3 (the equivalent of around 1,500 tons of marine fuel oil), making it possible to supply the LNG fuel needed for a round trip between Asia and North America.

The low sulfur fuel oil tank will have a capacity of 1,500m3, making it one of the largest for a bunkering vessel operating in Tokyo Bay. Hereafter, the oil tank will be converted to a LNG tank, depending on LNG fuel demand growth in Tokyo Bay.

Fonte: Sumitomo Corporation, Yokohama-Kawasaki International Port Corporation Uyeno Transtech Ltd.asser