US owner Matson Navigation is set to convert one of its modern container vessels to LNG propulsion in China next year.
The 3,620-teu Aloha-class Daniel K Inouye was the biggest boxship ever built in the US when it was handed over from Philly Shipyard in 2018.
Matson has awarded the systems supply contract to Singapore’s C-LNG Solutions.
The company will provide three 1,350-cbm LNG fuel tanks with in-tank pumps and tank gauging system, as well as bunker stations, an automation and control system, and a ship-to-shore link.
Consultancy firm Alphaliner said the vessels were designed with LNG retrofitting in mind, and their Man B&W main and auxiliary engines can be adapted to the fuel.
C-LNG Solutions said all of the equipment will be delivered within 13 months.
The vessel was the first unit in a Matson newbuilding programme that consisted of two Aloha-class ships from Philly Shipyard and a pair of Kanaloa-class con-ro vessels from General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard.
All four were designed for the Jones Act trade between the US west coast and Hawaii.
UK shipbroker Clarksons lists the Daniel K Inouye as costing $209m when it was ordered in 2013.
Survey due in 18 months
The ship is due for its special survey drydocking in October 2023.
The cost of the retrofit has not been revealed. Matson is not saying whether it plans to convert any of the other Aloha or Kanaloa ships.
But this is not the first Jones Act container vessel to switch to gas.
The Pasha Hawaii-operated, 2,653-teu Horizon Reliance (built 1980) is being retrofitted to run on LNG at Cosco Nantong Shipyard in China.
Built as a barge carrier, the vessel was converted into a container ship in 1990.
