In Japan, Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co. Ltd has announced the launch of what the company says is the world’s first 65,700-tonne Methanol Dual Fuel Bulk Carrier.
According to a statement, this vessel is designed to operate with a low environmental impact by using methanol as fuel while utilizing the TESS66 features of high load-carrying capacity and fuel efficiency.
Scheduled for delivery next spring, this vessel will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) by up to 80 percent, sulfur oxides (SOx) by up to 99 percent, and carbon dioxide (CO2) by up to 10 percent compared with heavy fuel oil (HFO).
Furthermore, if green methanol is used, fossil carbon emissions can be reduced even further.
The large-capacity methanol fuel tank was placed to maintain safety and simplicity in cargo loading and unloading, while at the same time ensuring loading performance.
The Ultrabulk vessel has a cargo hold capacity of 81,500 m3 and a deadweight of 65,700 tonnes, which is the top class of loading capacity in the Ultramax category – bulk carriers with a deadweight of 60,000 tonnes and a crane on deck.
Inheriting the characteristics of TESS66, the width is kept to a Panamax-sized breadth, and the depth is kept to an industry-standard level, ensuring a high level of versatility.
In terms of fuel efficiency, the TESS66 also offers high performance with a fuel-efficient main engine and the company’s unique AEROLINE technology for reducing wind resistance.
We were able to build and launch our 1st vessel of the next generation, which we have been developing to achieve carbon neutrality in accordance with the ‘Technology Development Roadmap’ incorporated into our medium-term management policy. Starting with full in-house manufacturing of pressure tanks for LPG carriers delivered in January this year, we have also started full-scale manufacturing of LNG fuel tanks and the technology developed in the full in-house manufacturing of pressure tanks is being applied to the production of methanol fuel tanks. In the future, we will further strengthen our technology deployment and collaboration with group companies to build the vessels of methanol dual-fuelled at our overseas factories and lead the decarbonization of the shipbuilding and shipping industry as an environmentally friendly company, commented Masatoshi Date, Managing Executive Officer of Tsuneishi Shipbuilding.
