Central LNG Shipping Japan Corporation (CLS), a joint venture established by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Chubu Electric Power, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, has ordered an LNG bunkering vessel (LBV), the first to be operated in Japan.
The vessel was ordered from Kawasaki Heavy Industries, on 6 July, and is scheduled to be delivered around September to December 2020.
The four companies jointly established CLS and Central LNG Marine Fuel Japan Corporation (CLMF) in May 2018 to launch the LNG Bunkering Business in the Chubu (central) region of Japan. Discussions had begun from January 2018.
The vessel will be owned and managed by CLS, and LNG will be supplied to end-users through CLMF.
LNG is expected to become an important alternative to heavy fuel oil due to its low emission rate of air polluting substances and GHG, which will enable ships to meet increasingly stringent international regulations on emissions.