Cheniere Marketing International, a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.S. energy player Cheniere Energy, has signed off on long-term charter deals for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers (LNGCs) with Japan’s shipping major Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) Line, part of NYK Group, and Norway’s Ocean Yield.
NYK Line, in partnership with Ocean Yield, has inked long-term charter contracts with Cheniere for new LNG carriers, which will be built at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. These ships are scheduled to be delivered from 2028. A tank made by Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT) features the GTT Mark III flex plus cargo containment system that has insulating materials to suppress the boil-off rate.
The vessels will be equipped with a next-generation X-DF2.1 intelligent control by exhaust recycling (iCER), variable compression ratio (VCR) system, dual-fuel, low-speed diesel engine that uses fuel oil and boil-off gas, which is LNG vaporized in the cargo tanks during navigation, for the main engine, and a re-liquefaction system that can use surplus boil-off gas effectively.
The LNG carriers will have a 200,000 cubic meter capacity membrane-type tank that uses advanced insulating materials to realize superior efficiency and economical LNG transportation. These will be the first LNG carriers NYK has chartered under a long-term time charter contract with Cheniere.
With a length overall of about 294.8 meters, a breadth of around 48.9 meters, the vessels will sport WinGD’s low-pressure, dual-fuel main engine equipped with the iCER technology that is said to have the potential to reduce methane emissions by up to 50% and fuel consumption by up to about 3% in gas mode and about 5% in diesel mode.
The VCR is perceived to allow the adjustment of the compression ratio (CR) during operation of the engine, which can curb fuel consumption by up to about 6 g/kWh in gas mode and about 12 g/kWh in diesel mode depending on engine type/rating.
Since NYK aims to promote conversion to optimal fuels to maximize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction by 2050, the firm’s near-term plan is to augment the LNG-fueled fleet by 2030 and expand the use of the latest GHG reduction technology.
Meanwhile, Cheniere is advancing its LNG projects, as demonstrated by the substantial completion of the fourth train , which is part of its expansion project in Texas, United States.