KHI Names New LNG Carrier for Ichthys Project

Japan’s shipbuilder Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has christened the newly-built liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Pacific Breeze at its Sakaide yard.

The new vessel, which features a length of 289 meters and a beam of 52 meters, was recently completed at the yard located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan for the Ichthys LNG Project in Darwin, Australia.

The LNG tanker was built based on a construction agreement between Pacific Breeze LNG Transport (PBLT), a subsidiary of Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) as the owner, and KHI. It is scheduled to be deployed in conjunction with the production startup of the Ichthys LNG Project.

Pacific Breeze is the largest moss-type LNG carrier, according to K Line, which is also the first moss-type LNG carrier equipped with tri-fuel diesel (TFD) propulsion system.

With a tank capacity of 182,000 m3, Pacific Breeze will be time-chartered by IT Marine Transport, a joint-venture company between INPEX Corporation and TOTAL S.A., and consigned to Taiwan’s CPC Corporation.

Following its delivery, the vessel will transport 1.75 million tons of Ichthys-produced LNG per year to Taiwan under a sales and purchase agreement with CPC.