Japan: NYK, Mitsubishi name new LNG carrier

A naming ceremony was held on Wednesday at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Nagasaki shipyard in Japan for a new 165,000-cbm liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier owned by a joint venture consisting of NYK and Mitsubishi Corporation.

The Japanese joint venture has a long-term time-charter contract for the LNG vessel with Diamond Gas International, a wholly owned unit of Mitsubishi located in Singapore.

After delivery on June 29, the ship named Diamond Gas Orchid will begin to transport LNG from the U.S. Cameron LNG project in Louisiana, in which NYK and Mitsubishi both have a stake, as well as from other locations around the world, the duo said in a statement.

The NYK Group will be responsible for ship management.

The new LNG vessel is a Sayaringo STaGE next-generation LNG carrier, which has a continuous steel cover that reduces ship weight and air resistance while increasing LNG-carrying capacity, the statement said.

The name “Sayaringo” is derived from the fact that the upper semi-sphere of the tank is larger than the lower semi-sphere, resembling the shape of an apple (“ringo” in Japanese) covered by a pod of a pea (“saya” in Japanese).

In addition, the 293.5m long ship is equipped with a hybrid propulsion system named STaGE (Steam Turbine and Gas Engines), a “highly efficient” reheating steam-type marine turbine, and a dual-fuel diesel engine capable of operating on both gas and oil, the statement said.

Diamond Gas Orchid is the first Sayaringo STaGE vessel to have both the next-generation LNG cargo tank structure and propulsion system, it added.