Japan’s NYK adds newbuild LNG carrier to its fleet

South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries delivered the 174,000-cbm Quest Kirishima on Monday.

NYK said the vessel will be deployed under a time-charter contract with Q United Energy Supply & Trading, a unit of Kyushu Electric Power.

Back in 2022, Kyushu Electric Power’s trading unit and NYK signed a charter deal for this LNG carrier.

The vessel features a WinGD-made dual-fuel slow-speed diesel engine (X-DF) that can operate on marine gas oil or boil-off gas stored in the cargo tank.

In addition, the ship has a reliquefaction system that uses surplus boil-off gas.

The LNG carrier is about 293 meters long and 46 meters wide.

NYK’s fleet of operational LNG carriers stood at 89 vessels at the end of September this year.

The shipping firm had 91 operational LNG carriers at the end of March this year and 86 operational LNG carriers at the end of September last year.

According to a presentation by NYK, its LNG carrier fleet included 76 owned or co-owned LNG carriers and 13 chartered vessels at the end of September this year.

NYK previously said it has “obtained new long-term stable contracts in the LNG carrier business and expanded the number of vessels involved to more than 120 by FY2027.”

This includes pre-delivery vessels with long-term charters.

Besides LNG carriers, NYK is expanding its fleet of “environment-friendly” vessels, including LNG-fueled vessels, LPG-fueled vessels, and methanol-fueled vessels.

According to NYK, its fleet included 17 LNG-fueled vessels and two LNG bunkering vessels at the end of September this year.