On April 30, NYK concluded a time-charter contract for a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier with LNG Marine Transport Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Company Incorporated. NYK also concluded a contract with MI LNG Company Limited for the construction of the LNG carrier (gross tonnage: 138,000 tons).
The ship will be delivered in 2017 and assigned to transport LNG for TEPCO in the Wheatstone LNG project — in which TEPCO, Mitsubishi Corporation, and NYK participate. LNG Marine Transport Ltd. will be responsible for the operational management of the vessel.
The new vessel will be a “Sayaendo” (peapod-shaped) series ship in which four Moss spherical tanks will be protected by a continuous cover integrated with the ship’s hull.
This innovative configuration reduces size and weight, while maintaining the ship’s overall structural rigidity. The continuous cover over the tanks also improves the aerodynamics of the hull, and thus the fuel consumption of the ship, by substantially reducing air resistance that acts as a drag on ship propulsion.
