UECC Names 2nd LNG-Fuelled Car Carrier

The world’s second dual-fuel LNG pure car and truck carrier Auto Energy had her formal naming ceremony at Malmo port, Sweden earlier this week.

In a February 10 release, the ship's Norway-based owner United European Car Carriers (UECC), a joint venture of NYK Lines and Wallenius Lines, said the event took place on February 7 despite a heavy snowfall in the Swedish port. The ship is built to Super 1A Finnish /Swedish ice class standard. 

Auto Energy is the second of two sister ships, the other Auto Eco having been named November 21 2016 at Zeebrugge, Belgium. They are the first two dual-fuel LNG Pure Car and Truck Carriers (PCTC) ever built and able to complete a 14-day round-trip voyage solely on LNG without refuelling.

Dr Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, president of the World Maritime University (Photo credit: UECC)

"UECC will always be appreciated for being a key actor in the industry with an important role to achieve a low-carbon and an energy-efficient maritime future," said Dr Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, president of the World Maritime University based in Malmo, at the ceremony.  

Johan Rostin, CEO of Copenhagen Malmo Port, said that UECC's launch of two LNG-powered ships in a short space of time was positive for the Baltic region as a whole as it would significantly reduce emissions.

With a fleet of more than 20 purpose-built vessels, UECC transports the equivalent of 1.7mn cars annually and operates terminals in key European ports. The firm formally took delivery of Auto Energy on November 30 at the Nacks shipyard in Nantong, China.  

The deployment of such PCTCs shows that LNG is coming of age as an international marine fuel being taken up by large cruise and container ships. The first LNG-fuelled vessel in 2000 was a ferry, and for much of that decade, LNG-powered ships continued to be mostly small Norwegian ferries.

Mark Smedley