Norway’s Northern Lights has unveiled the shipowners that will be providing its next generation of four CO₂ ships.

Northern Lights, a joint venture (JV) encompassing three oil majors Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell, has taken steps to enrich its fleet with four CO₂ newbuildings through charter deals with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and a consortium of Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (K Line), and MISC Berhad.

The joint venture said yesterday that it has awarded a charter agreement to a consortium of K Line and MISC Berhad for one new liquid CO₂ transport vessel.

A second vessel will be awarded to the same consortium in April.

The company also awarded two charter deals to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines for two new CO₂ transport vessels.

The three first vessels awarded will each have a 12,000 m3 cargo capacity.

The long-term time charter agreements are for cross-border transport of CO₂ from commercial customers in Europe. The long-term deals follow a global tender process initiated by Northern Lights JV.

The newbuilds will be owned by the shipping companies K Line, MISC Berhad, and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines.

Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore Co. Ltd (DSOC) and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. LTD (HHI) will construct the vessels.

The newbuilds are to be delivered for start-up of charter services to Northern Lights in the period from second half of 2028 to first half of 2029.

Northern Lights has taken delivery of three vessels Northern Pioneer, Northern Pathfinder and Northern Phoenix since late 2024, which are three newbuilt 7,500 m3 capacity sister ships as part of the phase 1 development in the Norwegian government’s Longship project and following agreements with first commercial customers. These three vessels are managed by K Line.

A fourth identical ship for charter to Northern Lights is under completion and will be delivered in 2026. It will be owned and operated by Bernhard Schulte, a part of the Schulte Group.

The four sister ships have been built and delivered by Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. (DSIC) and Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore Co., Ltd (DSOC).

Northern Lights offers CO2 transport and storage as a service.