On March 13, Japan’s Shin Kurushima Dockyard held a naming and delivery ceremony for the LNG-powered, dual-fuel 7,000 ceu car carrier “Cerulean Ace,” built for Japanese shipping major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL).
Cerulean Ace is the first of 11 new LNG dual-fuel-powered car carriers ordered by MOL from Shin Kurushima Dockyard which will transport automobiles produced by the Japanese automaker Mazda Motor Corporation.
The car carrier is nearly 200 meters long and 38 meters wide, and can carry 7,050 cars. The interior of the cargo hold is equipped with an artificial intelligence system that can detect fires and notify the crew of anomalies based on images captured by cameras. Starlink satellite communication service is available on board for high-speed, low-latency connectivity.
By using LNG as fuel, MOL expects that Cerulean Ace will reduce CO2 emissions by about 25-30%, sulfur oxides (SOx) emissions by about 98%, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by about 85%, compared to similar vessels using conventional fuel oil.
In 2023, MOL announced that it has named its new LNG dual-fuel car carriers as the “BLUE” series and unveiled a new hull color scheme.