MOL orders LNG-fueled tugboat

Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) on Friday ordered a liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled tugboat at the Kanagawa Dockyard. 

According to the MOL statement, the construction of the vessel is set to start in February 2018 and is expected to be completed in February 2019.

The launching of the vessel is scheduled for April 2019, MOL said, noting this will be the company’s first tugboat with engines running on LNG. The engines will be manufactured by Yanmar.

It will also be the first LNG-fueled tugboat in Japan conforming to the IGF code as well as the country’s first LNG-fueled tugboat with the LNG fuel tank mounted on the exposed deck at the stern of the ship, according to MOL.

The ship will be operated by Nihon Tug-Boat and will be deployed in Osaka Bay in April 2019.

LNG fuel will be supplied by Osaka Gas using a truck-to-ship system, and Osaka Gas and MOL plan on establishing an LNG fuel supply system for vessels, which will be the first in Osaka Bay. The duo also plans to cooperate in the measures of LNG fuel supply development project conducted by Port and Harbor Bureau of Osaka Prefectural Government at the Sakai-senboku Port.

MOL will move ahead with research on practical use of an LNG fuel supply system with a detachable, portable LNG fuel tank, by adapting this design to the tugboat, it added.