Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, an arm of Japan’s giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has handed over the first of two large energy-efficient car ferries, the 14,300 GT Keyaki.
As disclosed, the delivery ceremony for the 199-meter-long and 25.5-meter-wide environmentally friendly ferry was held at the Enoura Plant of MHI’s Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works in Yamaguchi Prefecture on November 11.
The ship—built for the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT) and the Osaka-headquartered Shin Nihonkai Ferry—entered service on November 14. It is to serve a shipping route between the cities of Otaru in Hokkaido and Maizuru in Kyoto Prefecture, according to officials from MHI.
As informed, Keyaki—which touched the water for the first time back in April this year—is able to carry around 286 passengers and transport approximately 150 trucks as well as 30 passenger cars.
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Per Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the car ferry is the first unit of its kind in Japan to adopt a new energy-saving hull form that comprises a Katana Bow and buttock-flow stern hull with a ducktail. The Katana Bow reportedly reduces water resistance by optimizing the shape of the stern.
Moreover, the company has explained that the ship’s propulsion resistance is expected to be suppressed by an energy efficiency-oriented roll-damping system, which combines an anti-rolling tank and fin stabilizers, both of which are said to ease the rolling effect—a major safety concern for ferries.
As a result of these solutions, the vessel is projected to accomplish an energy saving level of at least 5% in comparison to earlier units.
As the world’s third largest shipbuilder, Japan has endeavored to boost its capacity within this sector, striving to further compete with the world’s number one—China—and the runner-up, South Korea.
The country’s vessel construction players are said to have completed ships with a total gross tonnage of around 9 million in 2024, while the value for units booked in Japan the previous year was estimated to be circa ¥1.71 trillion(roughly $11.97 billion).
As part of the efforts to strengthen Japan’s shipbuilding capacity, a consortium consisting of ten shipbuilders, research institutes and academic institutions revealed a ¥12 billion (around $81.6 million) five-year project in July 2025, aimed at ‘enhancing’ the competitiveness and digital transformation of the country’s maritime industry and supporting the engineering of next-generation, high-performance vessels.
In addition to Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, other companies that embarked on this mission are Tsuneishi Shipbuilding, MTI Co., an NYK Group company, Japan Marine United Corporation (JMU), Mitsui E&S, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, the National Maritime Research Institute, Tsuneishi Akishima Laboratory, the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Osaka, and Kyoto University.
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