Mitsubishi Shipbuilding christens MOL’s LNG newbuild

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries company based in Yokohama, christened Mitsui & Co. liquefied natural gas carrier named Marvel Heron.

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding noted in its statement that the vessel achieves significant improvements in both LNG carrying capacity and fuel performance through adoption of a more efficient hull structure and a hybrid propulsion system.

After completion scheduled in September, the Marvel Heron will go into service primarily transporting LNG for the Cameron LNG project, in which Mitsui is a participating partner.

The Marvel Heron is the second LNG carrier of its type built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding for Mitsui. It has an overall length of 297.5 meters, a width of 48.94 meters, depth of 27.5 meters, and a draft of 11.4 meters, and is capable of transporting 177,000 cubic meters of the chilled fuel.

The order for the Marvel Heron was received through MI LNG Company, a joint venture established by MHI and Imabari Shipbuilding to design and market newbuilding LNG carriers.

Construction was undertaken by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Structure, a Nagasaki-based MHI Group company, and launching took place on February 2, 2019.

Besides the Marvel Heron, its sister ship was christened the Marvel Crane at a ceremony held on February 21, 2019, and handed over to Mitsui on March 28 and is now in service.