Singapore, Japan Set Sights on LNG Bunkering for Car Carriers

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Ports and Harbours Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism of Japan (MLIT) will helm a working group to conduct a feasibility study on LNG bunkering for car carriers plying between Japan and Singapore.

The working group will include Japan’s big three shippers – Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL).

MPA said that the study will focus on the technical details such as fuel tank capacities and refueling requirements to assess the feasibility of running LNG-fuelled car carriers between Japan and Singapore.

The joint feasibility study was announced at the inaugural Singapore and Japan Port Seminar 2017 held in Singapore today.

The study will be one of the activities jointly undertaken by MPA and MLIT under the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) signed in April 2017 that aims to bolster cooperation between the duo in areas such as port planning, port management and technological development in the port sector.

“Shipping can be less pollutive and the International Maritime Organization has introduced a 0.5% global sulfur cap by 2020. This is an opportunity for Singapore and Japan to co-lead in a global search for solutions to make shipping greener. In particular, the joint study on the feasibility of LNG bunkering for car carriers between Japan and Singapore offers great promise. It extends bilateral cooperation to shipping and raises bilateral cooperation to a new level,”  Khaw Boon Wan, Minister for Transport of Singapore, said.

 “I believe that Singapore, the world’s top bunkering port, and Japan, the world’s top LNG importer, have the responsibility to contribute to the development of global shipping through jointly promoting the use of LNG as marine fuel,” Keiichi Ishii, Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan, added.

Today, both countries are ready to provide LNG bunkering operations using trucks and are now looking into the next phase of LNG bunkering for ocean-going vessels.

In October 2016, MPA and MLIT signed a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding, concluded in Singapore, to widen the network of LNG bunker-ready ports in Europe, the US, and Asia.