Lloyd’s Register (LR), Cargill International, Minerva Dry Inc. and Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering Co Ltd (NACKS) in China have collaborated on the design of a Kamsarmax bulk carrier with methanol and rotor sail capability as the result of a Joint Development Project (JDP) established in 2022.
The design will provide a new energy efficient bulk carrier at a time when ship owners and operators must consider their environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies in line with new and upcoming environmental regulations which mandate the limiting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The JDP included input on user requirements from one of the largest dry bulk operators, Cargill, and brings together the operational experience of ship owner Minerva Dry with the design expertise of leading Chinese shipyard NACKS. LR acted as a trusted adviser throughout the joint development project as the sole classification society for the design of this unique vessel.
Nikos Kakalis, Global Bulk Carriers Segment Director, Lloyd’s Register said: “It is absolutely vital that stakeholders across the maritime value chain continue to work together to provide commercially viable bulk carriers to meet the sector’s demands whilst prioritising designs that comply with tightening GHG emission regulations, as evidenced by this JDP.”
Chris Hughes, Decarbonisation Specialist, Cargill International said: “NACKS, Minerva Dry and LR on this project all brought a lot of knowledge and experience to the project; plus a willingness to challenge the status quo, and to consider new ideas and technologies. Rather than starting with a conventional fuelled design and adding on some limited “readiness” we essentially designed a methanol fuelled ship first, and worked backwards from there for the methanol-ready version. The result is a design that is truly ready and feasible for conversion”.
Kostas Papadodimas, Technical Manager, Minerva Dry said: “We are at a time when the shipping industry is undergoing a transformation process caused mainly by the rapid technological advancement and the requirements and targets set towards the decarbonization of our industry. As such, Minerva Dry is committed to working with industry stakeholders and business partners in developing solutions that will enable the decarbonisation of shipping transportation. We are very glad that we were given the opportunity to provide our insights and operational experience in this JDP that has resulted in the development of an optimised and energy efficient design of a Kamsarmax bulk carrier with futureproofing capabilities and sustainability elements, being at the same time commercially relevant today”.
Mingfeng Lu, Technical Director, NACKS said: “by comprehensive research on optimal arrangement of methanol storage tanks, fuel supply and refuelling systems. By optimizing the hull form and implementation of energy saving devices, the vessel provides significant improvement in energy efficiency comparing with the last generation of Kamsarmax BC. It can satisfy the requirement of EEDI Phase 3 by using conventional fuel, with the potential for greater improvement in it following the utilization of wind propulsion and methanol fuel in the future.”
NACKS is the first large-scale Sino-foreign joint venture shipbuilding enterprise in China established by COSCO Shipping Group (hereinafter referred to as “COSCO Shipping”) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “KHI”). The company has a registered capital of 1.46 billion Yuan and a total investment of over 6 billion Yuan, for which COSCO Shipping and KHI respectively hold 50% of shares of NACKS.
In terms of three major shipbuilding indicators of shipbuilding completion rate, number of new ship orders and hand-held orders, NACKS has continuously been ranked among the top ten enterprises in China’s shipbuilding industry. The enterprise keeps the China’s shipbuilding records in many economic and technical indicators such as labor productivity, steel utilization, energy consumption, and man-hour per ship, and has reached the advanced levels of Japan and South Korea for some indicators. NACKS is known as the world’s most competitive shipyard and has become an important strategic partner of the mainstream international shipping companies.