Japanese shipping conglomerate Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has announced that on July 3 its group company MOL Coastal Shipping held a naming and launching ceremony for the newbuilding coastal tanker, jointly owned by MOL Coastal Shipping, Tabuchi Kaiun, and Niihama Kaiun Kabushiki Kaisha, at the Japanese shipbuilder Kanasashi Heavy Industries of Murakami Hide Shipbuilding Group.
The tanker vessel “Daiichi Meta Maru” after her scheduled delivery from Kanasashi Heavy Industries in December 2024, will transport methanol cargo for Mitsubishi Corporation.
The “Daiichi Meta Maru” is Japan’s first domestic coastal vessel to use environmentally friendly methanol fuel, and is a vessel equipped with the most advanced energy-saving devices and operational support and automated cargo handling systems, in accordance with MOL.
The use of methanol fuel reduces emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes global warming, and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which cause acid rain, in addition to sulfur oxides (SOx), compared to the heavy fuel oil used by conventional merchant ships.
The “Daiichi Meta Maru” is an about 570 tons gross tonnage tanker with about 65.50m length, 10.00m breath, draft of about 4.38m with the main engine being a Hanshin Diesel Works “LA28M” methanol-fueled marine engine.
