A joint venture comprising Japanese shipping companies NYK and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), Malaysia’s energy-related maritime services provider MISC Berhad, and China LNG Shipping (Holdings) Limited (CLNG) has held a naming ceremony for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier built for Qatar’s state-owned energy giant QatarEnergy.
As disclosed, the vessel was named Al Tuwar in a ceremony held on April 17 at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) in China.
This is the first in a series of twelve LNG carriers that the joint venture will build for QatarEnergy. Furthermore, the vessel is said to be the first LNG carrier that NYK is involved in building in China.
According to NYK, Al Tuwar is equipped with the X-DF 2.1 iCER engine, a dual-fuel engine that uses fuel oil and boil-off gas as fuel, as well as a reliquefaction device that uses surplus boil-off gas, reportedly enabling efficient navigation and contributing to reducing greenhouse gases (GHG), thereby reducing the environmental impact.
The 174,000 cbm vessel is scheduled to begin transporting LNG to countries worldwide in May.
To remind, the joint venture partners were awarded long-term time charter contracts by QatarEnergy for twelve newbuild LNG carriers in 2022.
At the time, MISC’s President and Group CEO expressed pride in the collaboration, stating: “We remain committed towards promoting a sustainable future for the LNG industry and we believe that strategic partnerships and collaboration remain the key to achieving and maintaining the industry’s growth and success in the long term.”
In other news, it is worth mentioning that South Korea’s shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean hosted a steel-cutting ceremony for eight new LNG carriers being built as part of QatarEnergy’s LNG fleet expansion project.
These vessels will be owned and operated by maritime player Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat). It is understood that the carriers will be chartered to QatarEnergy affiliates under long-term agreements.
