A new carrier, powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), has been delivered to a consortium that includes Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), and the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI).
Built by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries, the vessel, Prachi, features a capacity of 173,000m³.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Prachi will be chartered to Petronet LNG (PLL), which imports LNG to India, for a period of 19 years.
Currently, PLL brings in 7.5 million tonnes of LNG annually from Qatar, using three LNG vessels, with plans to deploy Prachi in the Gorgon LNG project in Australia.
SCI is involved in the operation and management of all LNG tankers that are under long-term charter with PLL and is also responsible for managing Prachi.
In September this year, United European Car Carriers (UECC), jointly owned by NYK and Wallenius Lines, took delivery of the first of the two LNG-fuelled pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) from Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Named Auto Eco, the vessel is equipped with dual-fuel engines that can use either LNG or heavy fuel oil (HFO) and marine gas oil (MGO).
UECC plans to deploy the vessel into its service route in Europe, where strict sulphur emission regulations were being put in place.
It is noted that LNG does not emit any sulphur oxides (SOx) or particulate matter (PM), and less nitrogen oxides (Nox) and carbon dioxides (CO2) than conventional HFO and MGO.
Image: Newly delivered LNG carrier to NYK Line consortium. Photo: courtesy of NYK Line.
