On May 14, a naming ceremony was held at the Nagasaki shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier that NYK and JERA Co. Inc.* will jointly own.** The ceremony was attended by Satoshi Onoda, president of JERA Co. Inc.; Tadaaki Naito, president of NYK; and a number of related parties.

At the ceremony, the ship was named “Bushu Maru” by Mr. Onoda, and the ceremonial rope holding the vessel in place was cut by his wife. The ship derives its name from Musashi province, which is also known as Bushu, the historical name of a province that today comprises Tokyo, Saitama prefecture, and part of Kanagawa prefecture. JERA’s Higashi-Ohgishima LNG Thermal Power Station is located in Kawasaki city in Kanagawa prefecture.

The ship will be delivered in June 2019 and assigned to transport LNG for a 20-year period from the Freeport LNG Project in which JERA has an equity interest. This project is based in the U.S. state of Texas, and NYK will be responsible for ship management of the vessel.

In accordance with its medium-term management plan “Staying Ahead 2022 with Digitalization and Green,” the NYK Group continues to secure stable freight rates through the promotion of the company’s LNG fleet plan.

* JERA Co. Inc.
Jointly established by TEPCO Fuel & Power Inc. and Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc. Headquarters: Tokyo; president: Satoshi Onoda.

** In 2015, NYK and JERA jointly established Trans Pacific Shipping 6 Limited (equally owned by NYK and JERA) to own LNG vessels.