Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., a Yokohama-based member of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, has concluded a contract with Sanyu Kisen Co., Ltd., a Kobe-based enterprise principally engaged in the management of ships navigation in Japanese as well as foreign waters, calling for the construction of a demonstration test ship to transport liquefied carbon dioxide (LCO2) in conjunction with initiatives of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in ”CCUS R&D and Demonstration Related Project / Large-scale CCUS Demonstration in Tomakomai / Demonstration Project on CO2 Transportation / R&D and Demonstration Project for CO2 Marine Transportation” (the demonstration projects).
Construction will get underway at the Enoura Plant of MHI’s Shimonoseki Shipyard & Machinery Works, with completion and delivery scheduled for the second half of fiscal 2023.
The Engineering Advancement Association of Japan (ENAA), one of the entities performing business relating to the demonstration projects, will charter the ship from Sanyu Kisen, the subcontractor, and operate it for the project’s purposes. Under consignment from ENAA, three additional project partners – Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” LINE), Nippon Gas Line Co., Ltd., and Ochanomizu University – will accelerate R&D of the LCO2 transportation technology and contribute to cost reduction of CCUS technology and safe, long-distance and large-scale transportation of LCO2.