Norway's NECC Gets Funding for Hybrid LNG Car Carriers

Oslo-based shipping line United European Car Carriers (UECC) has secured $70mn in funding to develop battery hybrid LNG pure car and truck carriers (PCTC), it reported on November 29.

Swedish lender Svenska SkeppsHypotek has provided UECC with “green financing” for the project, reducing its borrowing costs, the carrier company said in a statement. The funds will underpin a contract UECC has signed for construction of three new generation PCTCs with China Ship Building Trading and Jiangnan Shipyard Group.

The vessels, due for delivery from July 2021 onwards, are equipped with battery hybrid LNG solutions, putting UECC in a position to surpass the IMO target for a 40% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030. They will also meet Tier 3 IMO limits on emissions of nitrogen oxides, due to come into force in the Baltic and the North Sea in 2021. They will run on dual-fuel LNG engines.

“This is a giant leap towards decarbonisation, and unlike anything else that has been done previously in our industry, I believe, and something that we are extremely proud of,” UECC CEO Glen Edvardsen said in a statement.

The vessels have a length of 169 metres, a width of 28 metres, and can transport up to 3,600 cars which.

UECC is owned jointly by Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha and Sweden’s Wallenius Lines.