NYK of Japan has taken delivery of ‘Plumeria Leader’, a pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) capable of navigating oceans with only LNG as the ship’s main fuel.
The vessel was built at Shin Kurushima Toyohashi Shipbuilding, and is NYK’s second LNG-fuelled car carrier following the Sakura Leader.
By vessel modification and the switch to LNG, Plumeria Leader will make the ship about 40% more energy efficient (by reducing CO2 emissions per unit of transport) compared to ships using conventional HFO-fired engines. The vessel is expected to reduce SOx emissions by around 99% and NOx by about 86% compared to ships using conventional oil fired engines.
The delivery ceremony was attended by Kyogo Onoue, Chief Officer, TPS Group of the Toyota Motor Corporation, and Takaya Soga, Senior Managing Executive Officer of NYK. The ship was named Plumeria Leader, according to NYK, “to express our wish to realise and pass on a rich global environment through environmentally friendly transportation and to leave beautiful flowers to the future.”
This ship will be one of the largest PCTCs, capable of transporting about 7,000 units (standard vehicle equivalent) per voyage, beginning with vehicles produced by the Toyota Motor Corporation.
