NYK, FueLNG wrap up 1st bunkering of LNG-fueled PCTC in Singapore

Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and FueLNG, a joint venture between Keppel Offshore & Marine and Shell Eastern Petroleum, have completed the first bunkering of an LNG-fueled pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) in Singapore.

NYK’s Jasmine Leader, one of the largest PCTCs in the world, successfully completed her LNG bunkering with FueLNG Bellina on 8 March 2023.

This marks a significant milestone in NYK’s sustainability efforts and FueLNG’s mission to promote LNG as a marine fuel, according to the partners.

“We are delighted to have achieved the first PCTC LNG bunkering in Singapore through Jasmine Leader,” said Yuji Nishijima, executive officer in charge of fuel procurement at NYK.

“This marks a significant step towards achieving our long-term target of net-zero emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) by 2050 for the NYK Group’s oceangoing businesses, and we are grateful to FueLNG and the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore for their collaboration and support in making this possible.”

“This achievement highlights FueLNG’s commitment to advancing the adoption of LNG as a marine fuel, and we are pleased to work with NYK to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of this technology for a large-scale PCTC in Singapore. LNG is the lowest carbon fuel currently available at scale today and we will continue to collaborate with our customers to drive the growth of decarbonized LNG bunkering in the region,” Tahir Faruqui, Chairman of FueLNG and head of Shell Downstream LNG, said.

The bunkering operation was carried out in accordance with Singapore’s Technical Reference 56 for LNG Bunkering. This standard is a key part of Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore’s framework to ensure safe, reliable and transparent LNG bunkering operations in Singapore, according to NYK.

To remind, Jasmine Leader was delivered to NYK last month. The vessel is the first in a series of four PCTCs China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Nanjing) is building for the company under a contract signed in 2021.

The vessel is to be assigned for the transportation of vehicles between Europe and the Middle East.

The construction of these four vessels is in line with NYK Line’s plan to replace current vessels with around 40 newly built LNG-fueled PCTCs over the next decade to reduce CO2 emissions per ton-kilometer of transport by 50% by 2050.

The use of LNG fuel combined with other energy-efficiency solutions such as hull modification is expected to contribute to a reduction of sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions by 99% compared to ships fueled by heavy fuel oil. Likewise, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions are set to be cut by 96%, and CO2 emissions by approximately 40% or more (per unit of transportation), according to NYK Line.