Japanese trio to develop ammonia-fired gas carrier

Japanese companies Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), Tsuneishi Shipbuilding and Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding will develop and build an ocean-going liquefied gas carrier that will use ammonia as its main fuel, they said on June 24 in a joint statement.

The vessel is envisioned as a mid-size ammonia/LPG carrier equipped with the main engine that can run mainly on ammonia, and targeting to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions while underway by using some of its ammonia cargo as fuel, the companies said.

The vessel will be 180 m long with a Mitsui-Man B&W type S60 two-stroke dual-fuel ammonia engine that is under development. The companies plan to introduce the vessel around 2026 as the first “net-zero emission ocean-going vessel”, they said.