Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding have showcased today a concept design for an ammonia/liquefied CO2 carrier with a carrying capacity of 50,000 cu m.
MOL entered the liquefied CO2 ocean transport business through investment in Norway’s Larvik Shipping last year, a company which has managed LCO2 carriers for industrial customers in Europe for over 30 years. MOL also reentered the the ammonia trades last year after a five-year hiatus with the acquisition of a 35,000 cu m gas carrier.
Last month MOL completed a concept study on a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for ammonia fuel, also in collaboration with Mitsubishi Shipbuilding.
The many nascent seaborne trades such as liquefied CO₂ or hydrogen have given ailing Japanese shipyards a shot in the arm. Japanese shipbuilders were the pioneers for much of the liquefied gas carrier design breakthroughs of the 1970s and 1980s, something they aim to replicate as the world transitions to new energy forms.
