Singapore’s Eastern Pacific Shipping has taken delivery of the first LNG-powered pure car and truck carrier that will serve a charter deal with CMA CGM’s unit CEVA Logistics.
China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Weihai on Wednesday handed over the LNG dual-fuel PCTC, CMA CGM Indianapolis, to Idan Ofer’s EPS.
The shipbuilder owned by China Merchants said the first ship of its 7000 ceu dual-fuel car carrier series was delivered 102 days ahead of schedule.
At nearly 200 meters in length, the vessel has the capacity to transport 7,000 cars and its deck surface is spread across 12 levels.
With a width of 38 meters, the ship has a gross tonnage of 72,000 tons and will move at a max speed of 19 knots.
The RoRo vessels’ hybrid power system includes both LNG and electric battery capabilities and it is equipped with two 2000 cbm LNG tanks.
China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Weihai is building in total six LNG-powered PCTCs for EPS.
Earlier this year, CMA CGM’s unit CEVA Logistics entered the car carrier segment with a charter deal for four of these LNG-powered PCTCs owned by EPS and CMA CGM Indianapolis is the first vessel in this batch.
These four vessels will allow CEVA to transport about 140,000 vehicles annually between global markets, especially China and Europe, it previously said.
CEVA said at the time that the first vessel in this batch is expected to be delivered in December and the three subsequent ships in 2024.
Besides these ships, EPS also has LNG-powered PCTCs on order at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Jiangsu.
EPS recently took delivery of the second of ten LNG-powered PCTCs from this yard.