Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and its group company MOL Sunflower announced that the naming and launching ceremony for the first of two LNG-fueled ferries, which are under construction at Naikai Zosen Corporation, was held at Innoshima Shipyard on April 11.
The vessel will be delivered at Naikai Shipbuilding in December 2024 and is slated to enter service on the late-night Oarai-Tomakomai route operated by MOL Sunflower in early 2025. The second of the two new vessels is scheduled to enter service on the same route within 2025.
With the addition of these vessels, the MOL Group will operate a fleet of four LNG-fueled ferries on east-west routes in Japan by 2025, joining the Sunflower Kurenai and Sunflower Murasaki, which went into service on the Osaka-Beppu route in 2023.
The vessel will be able to reduce CO2 emissions by about 35% compared to currently in-service vessels on the Hokkaido route by adopting various state-of-the-art technologies in addition to LNG fuel, thereby contributing to the reduction of overall CO2 emissions.
In addition, the MOL Group will promote Japan’s “Modal Shift” and strive to solve the “2024 problem of logistics,” by expanding the loading space for trucks compared to the currently in-service vessels and providing more comfortable space for truck drivers by making all cabins private rooms.
The MOL Group aims to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, and will continue to carry forward the strategy of “adoption of clean alternative fuels” in line with the “MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2” to achieve decarbonization and low carbonization. In addition to leading the way in environmental responsiveness in the coastal ferry business, the group will continue to research and examine the use of new fuels as alternatives to LNG in the future, and will continue to actively lead the industry in this area.
