The Korean Register (KR), Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Korea Marine Transport have entered into a memorandum of understanding for a joint development project for 1,800 teu container vessels featuring a ballast-free concept.
Under the agreement, Hyundai Mipo will be responsible for the basic ship designs and the Korean Register will assess the safety, adequacy and validity to give a license to the new design, which is expected to finish in the fourth quarter of the year. Korea Marine Transport will support the comparative study on the transport capability and operation efficiency.
According to KR, the project will help minimize the use of ballast water threatening the world’s coastal and marine environments in a preemptive measure to stricter environmental regulations and will further help domestic shipbuilding and marine companies raise their market competitiveness.