Japan's MOL Orders LNG Tugboat

Japanese shipowner Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) announced January 26 it has signed a deal with Kanagawa Dockyard for the construction of an LNG-fueled tugboat.

Construction is scheduled to start in February 2018 and complete in February 2019, with launch scheduled for April of the same year. This marks MOL's first ownership of a tugboat powered by LNG-fueled engines produced by Yanmar and it will be the first LNG-fueled tugboat in Japan conforming to the 'International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other low-flashpoint Fuels' (IGF) code. It is also Japan's first LNG-fueled tugboat with the LNG fuel tank mounted on the exposed deck at the stern of the ship, said MOL, adding that this enhances convenience in bunkering, maintenance, and inspection.

The ship will be operated by Nihon Tug-Boat Company and will be deployed in Osaka Bay in April 2019. LNG fuel will be supplied by Osaka Gas using a truck-to-ship system.

MOL and Osaka Gas will establish an LNG fuel supply system for vessels, which will be the first in Osaka Bay and cooperate in the measures of LNG fuel supply development project conducted by the Port and Harbor Bureau of Osaka Prefectural Government at the Sakai-senboku Port.

MOL said it will move ahead with research on practical use of an LNG fuel supply system with a detachable, portable LNG fuel tank, by adapting this design to the tugboat.