Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has taken delivery of the first car carrier of its next-generation Flexie series, the Beluga Ace, which was built at the Minaminippon Shipbuilding in Japan.
The four Flexie car carriers were ordered from Minaminippon Shipbuilding in April 2015.
The new vessel has six liftable decks, compared with two on conventional car carriers, a feature which is expected to meet the demand for diversified vehicle and high and heavy cargo transport more effectively.
Beluga Ace boasts a rounded bow shape which aims to minimize wind resistance and is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by about 2 pct compared to today’s car carriers, MOL said.
As disclosed earlier, the new car carrier series will be powered by an electronically-controlled diesel engine with Low Load Optimisation (LLO) tuning by exhaust gas bypass technology. The new carriers also adopt waste heat energy recovery system for generator engines and electric power consumption reduction technology.
The new shape is the result of joint research by MOL, MOL Techno-Trade, and Akishima Laboratories, developed as part of Ishin Next -MOL Smart Ship Project.
Beluga Ace is 199.9 meters long, has a breadth of 32.2 meters and a capacity for 6,800 standard passenger vehicles.