Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) announced that the 98,000 cubic meter STL Yangtze is the first of six Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLEC) to join its gas fleet.
All six vessels feature dual fuel ethane propulsion which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions when compared to conventional marine fuels.
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On 15-year charters to China-based Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical (STL), these environmentally friendly vessels will carry ethane between the US Gulf Coast to STL’s plant in Lianyungang, China.
The delivery of STL Yangtze is a major milestone for EPS as it represents our commitment to maritime’s energy transition with our holistic alternative marine fuels programme to achieve the industry’s decarbonisation goals
said EPS.
Recently, EPS signed an agreement with Value Maritime to install carbon capture and filtering systems on MR tankers Pacific Cobalt and Pacific Gold. The installation of the first system is scheduled to be completed within 2022 with engineering and planning underway, while the agreement also has an option to equip three more vessels.
The sister vessels will be fitted with a prefabricated gas cleaning system that filters sulphur and 99% of particulate matter. The system will include a Carbon Capture Module charging a CO2 battery onboard.
The charged CO2 battery will be discharged in port and subsequently used by CO2 customers, such as greenhouses, or injected into carbon sequestration networks.
The discharged battery will be returned to the vessel for CO2 recharging. This ‘plug and play’ approach allows vessels to capture up to 40% of CO2 emissions today, with the potential of exceeding 90% in the future.
