On January 31, NYK and JERA Co., Inc. signed a long-term charter contract for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier (the "vessel") to be built in South Korea by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries. The vessel will be delivered in 2027 and will be used to transport LNG for JERA. This contract will contribute to the stable supply of LNG in partnership with JERA and strengthen and promote NYK’s LNG business as a core business of the company.

The vessel will be equipped with a next-generation X-DF2.2 iCER* dual-fuel, low-speed diesel engine that uses fuel oil and boil-off gas (LNG vaporized in the cargo tanks during navigation) for the main engine and a re-liquefaction system that can use surplus boil-off gas effectively. The vessel will have a 174,000 cubic meter capacity membrane-type tank** that uses advanced insulating materials to realize superior efficiency and economical LNG transportation.

The vessel is the 11^th LNG carrier NYK has chartered under a time charter contract with JERA. In its medium-term management plan announced in March 2023, NYK positioned its bulk shipping business as a core business and will invest 300 billion yen in LNG carrier construction by fiscal 2026.

Cargo tank capacity: about 174,000 cubic meters
Length overall: about 289.9 meters
Breadth: about 46.1 meters
Main engine: X-DF2.2 iCER
Shipbuilder: Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.
Delivery year: 2027

On March 10, 2023, the NYK Group released its medium-term management plan “Sail Green, Drive Transformations 2026 - A Passion for Planetary Wellbeing. ” The NYK Group is promoting growth strategies with ESG at the core, based on the Group’s mission statement of “Bringing value to life” and a new corporate vision for 2030, which reads, “we go beyond the scope of a comprehensive global logistics enterprise to co-create value required for the future by advancing our core business and growing new ones.”

NYK has established “Sail GREEN” as the company’s brand to emphasize NYK’s efforts to reduce GHG emissions through the transport of goods and contribute to the eco-friendly supply chains of customers, regardless of the mode of transport (e.g., by sea or land, through terminals, etc.). Completion of this vessel is an initiative of that brand.

* X-DF2.2 iCER
WinGD's low-pressure, dual-fuel main engine with excellent fuel consumption efficiency. It is equipped with Intelligent Control by Exhaust Gas Recycling, or iCER, the latest technology that can reduce methane emissions by up to 50% and fuel consumption by up to about 3% in gas mode and about 5% in diesel mode.

** A Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT) made tank featuring the GTT Mark III flex cargo containment system that has insulating materials to suppress the boil-off rate.