Image credit: Northern Lights JV DA
Japanese shipping giant Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) has signed bareboat and time charter deals with Northern Lights, owned by Equinor, TotalEnergies and Shell, for the management of the third CO2 ship.
This follows the formerly signed contracts for managing the first two 7,500 m3 liquefied CO2 ships, that are 75% completed and set for delivery in 2024. The Northern Lights project is on schedule to be ready to receive CO2 during this year.
To remind, the Japanese company in December 2022 was awarded the ship management contracts of the first two Northern Lights ships.
Subsidiary K Line LNG Shipping (UK) will handle the three vessels from London, facilitating the transportation of liquefied CO2 from Northern Lights customers based in Norway, Denmark, and Netherlands, to Northern Lights’ CO2 receiving terminal in Øygarden, Norway, from where the CO2 will be injected into the offshore reservoir for safe and permanent storage.
In December 2023, Northern Lights placed the order of a fourth CO2 ship, sister to the ones currently under construction at Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore (DSOC).
According to the company, with these four ships, Northern Lights will have the world’s largest dedicated CO2 shipping fleet.
Børre Jacobsen, managing director of Northern Lights, explained that “these ships will be shuttling between our customers in Northwest Europe and the Northern Lights’ onshore facilities, each transporting over 400,000 tonnes CO2 annually.”
Yukikazu Myochin, president and chief executive of “K” Line, said: “We are delighted to successively undertake ship management for the third Northern Lights vessel.
“We have already set up a dedicated team for CO2 ship management in “K” Line LNG Shipping (UK) in London for the first and second vessels and believe that the preparation for prior vessels will be further accumulated with the additional vessel in the fleet.
“Having the experience of building up the team and operational procedure, we are determined to contribute to the world’s first CCS project by Northern Lights.”
