Singapore, Japan to Promote LNG Bunkering for Car Carriers

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Ports and Harbours Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism of Japan (MLIT) have decided to work on promoting LNG bunkering for car carriers plying between Japan and Singapore, MPA said August 28.

A working group will conduct a feasibility study. The joint feasibility study was announced at the inaugural Singapore and Japan Port Seminar 2017 held in Singapore August 28. This working group will include Japan’s big three shippers – Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL). 

The study will be one of the activities jointly undertaken by MPA and MLIT under the memorandum of cooperation (MOC) that was signed between MPA and MLIT in April 2017. The MOC envisages cooperation between the two entities in areas such as port planning, port management and technological development in the port sector. 

“Shipping can be less pollutive and the International Maritime Organization has introduced a 0.5% global sulphur cap by 2020.  This is an opportunity for Singapore and Japan to co-lead in a global search for solutions to make shipping greener.  In particular, the joint study on the feasibility of LNG bunkering for car carriers between Japan and Singapore offers great promise.  It extends bilateral cooperation to shipping and raises bilateral cooperation to new level,” Singapore's minister for transport, Khaw Boon Wan, said. 

Today, both countries are ready to provide LNG bunkering operations using trucks and are now looking into the next phase of LNG bunkering for ocean-going vessels, MPA said.

MPA and MLIT also signed a multilateral memorandum of understanding, concluded in Singapore in October 2016, to widen the network of LNG bunker-ready ports in Europe, US and Asia.

Shardul Sharma