Kawasaki Bags Order for LPG Carrier

Japanese shipbuilder Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has won an order for the construction of a liquefied petroleum gas carrier from Singapore-based owner Kumiai Navigation (KN).

The 84,000 cbm gas carrier will be fuelled by LPG, the shipbuilder revealed, and it is the second LPG-fuelled ship to be built by the yard for Kumiai.

The dual-fuel gas carrier is scheduled for delivery in 2022. 

Kumiai Navigation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese shipowner Kumiai Senpaku.

The company owns 15 vessels, with more new vessels in the pipeline.

Based on the data from VesselsValue, Kumiai Navigation has five ships on order, including two VLGCs at Kawasaki, valued at over USD 80 million each, as well as one Capesize bulk carrier, one Ultramax and one fully pressurized LPG carrier set for delivery in 2020.

As indicated by Kawasaki, the ship can run both on LPG and low sulfur fuel oil, however, the ship’s CO2 footprint is much lower when the ship switches to LPG.

LPG is becoming an ever more prominent solution for the tightening emission regulations being implemented across the shipping sector.

Singaporean owner BW LPG has been among the early adopters of LPG as fuel and has decided to retrofit eight very large gas carriers to this type of fuel in order to cut its emissions.

The growing interest from gas carrier owners to convert their ships to LPG has prompted classification societies to lay the necessary groundwork for design approvals as well as other design and shipbuilding aspects from the installation to bunkering connection.

Most recently, Kawasaki secured approval in principle (AIP) from ABS and ClassNK for its LPG as fuel system design.

KHI claims that in dual-fuel engine capable of using both marine diesel oil and LPG as fuel, its system simultaneously reduces fuel consumption and enables the engine to meet NOx Tier 3 regulations.

The design is intended for an electronically controlled LPG injection marine diesel engine (ME-LGIP).

The system’s main features include cyclical system design that is compatible with propane and butane and circulates LPG in a pressurized state capable of usage at normal ambient temperature; establishing a highly safe control system by implementing risk assessment based on the IGC code and system configuration applicable to merchant ships other than LPG carriers.