Mitsubishi to Build LNG-Fuelled Ferries for MOL

Japan’s Mitsubishi Shipbuilding December 27 said it has signed an agreement with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) to build two LNG-fuelled ferries. In November, MOL had announced that Sunflower Kurenai and Sunflower Murasaki vessels will be ordered from Mitsubishi Shipbuilding and chartered by its subsidiary Ferry Sunflower.

These vessels will be built at the Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works, with successive completion and handover scheduled for the end of 2022 to early 2023. The ferries will be about 199.9 metres long and 28 metres wide, with a gross tonnage of approximately 17,300 metric tons. They will have a maximum prescribed capacity for 763 passengers, and carrying capacity for around 136 13-metre trucks and 100 passenger cars, Mitsubishi said.

The main power plant will be a dual-fuel engine able to operate on both LNG and A‐type heavy oil. According to Mitsubishi, these engines will produce 20% less carbon dioxide than the vessels they are replacing, and virtually zero sulphur oxides.