Japanese shipping conglomerate Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and its group company MOL Sunflower Ltd (MOL Sunflower) held on April 11 the naming and launching ceremony for the first of two LNG-fueled ferries, which are under construction at Naikai Zosen Corporation.
The ferry was given its name “Sunflower Kamuy” by Tomoyasu Marutani, Chairman of Secoma Company Limited, and then his wife, Michiko Marutani, performed the ceremonial rope cutting.
The vessel will be delivered at Naikai Shipbuilding in December 2024 and is slated to enter service on the late-night Oarai-Tomakomai route operated by MOL Sunflower in early 2025.
The second of the two new vessels is scheduled to enter service on the same route within 2025, as the company states.
With the addition of these vessels, the MOL Group will operate a fleet of four LNG-fueled ferries on east-west routes in Japan by 2025, joining the “Sunflower Kurenai” and “Sunflower Murasaki”, which went into service on the Osaka-Beppu route in 2023.
Source: Mitsui O.S.K
