Japanese-shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. has signed a contract with compatriot shipyard Minaminippon Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. to construct four next-generation car carriers.
The vessels will be delivered in 2017 and 2018 and serve on MOL’s worldwide car carrier services.
According to MOL, deck construction of the newly-ordered car carriers will be substantially altered to change the number of decks from the current 12 to 14. Furthermore, the number of liftable decks will be increased from two to six. This means two adjustable decks can be placed between two fixed decks.
“The newly designed liftable decks will offer greater flexibility in accommodating vehicles of different heights, improving loading efficiency and meeting demand for more diversified vehicle transport,” MOL said.
MOL named the car carriers featuring this new deck construction the “FLEXIE” series.
The newly ordered car carriers will be installed with electronically-controlled diesel engine with Low Load Optimisation (LLO) tuning by Exhaust Gas Bypass (EGB) technology. They will also adopt waste heat energy recovery system for generator engines and electric power consumption reduction technology. In addition MOL said that the vessels’ hull form design will be improved, especially for low-speed range, based on ship performance analysis of existing carriers.
The ships will also mark a step forward in wind-pressure reducing design, as their susceptibility to wind resistance will be reduced and thus improve fuel efficiency in comparison with existing vessels, reducing at the same time their impact on the environment.
MOL has taken an aggressive approach to developing innovative next-generation car carriers, and in 2012, launched the world’s first newbuilding hybrid car carrier, the Emerald Ace.