The Japanese Port of Yokohama plans to set up the nation’s first liquefied natural gas bunkering operation

• 08 Jun 2016

The Japanese Port of Yokohama plans to set up the nation’s first liquefied natural gas bunkering operation under a proposal to promote more clean fuel use in the shipping industry. Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line) said it will participate in a committee including Japanese Ministry of  Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, set up to study the possibility of establishing LNG bunkering stations in Japan. The committee will review the options of establishing the first LNG bunkering station in the port of Yokohama which will be used as a model case. According to the company’s statement, the first meeting of the review committee will be held on June 9, and will review the state of the port, and estimate the costs, market factors and the technological requirements of the project, that has the aim of growing the use of LNG as fuel in Japan. In September last year, NYK took delivery of Japan’s first LNG-powered vessel, the Sakigake tugboat that is serving in the ports of Yokohama and Kawasaki. Since its delivery, the vessel bunkered LNG by a truck-to-ship method in the port of Yokohama. Fuel for the tug is being supplied by another participant in the committee, Tokyo Gas that operates the Negishi LNG terminal in the Yokohama port.