Japanese trading house Marubeni and energy giant Eneos are set to order a dual-fuel ethylene carrier as part of their carbon-neutral strategy.
The ship — the specifics of which have yet to be revealed — will be long-term chartered to Marubeni when it is delivered, which is due in 2024.
The companies, which are both long-term suppliers of ethylene, said they have been investigating the potential for carbon neutralisation in the supply chain.
The vessel will be the "first of its kind", they said, equipped with a dual-fuel engine built for ethylene export from Japan.
They also claim that the vessel design will reduce CO2 emissions by roughly 40% compared with conventional ethylene carriers.
The identity of the shipyard was not disclosed, but Eneos does have two VLGCs on order at Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Marubeni said it maintains one of the largest ethylene trading volumes in the world and customers are increasingly calling for low-carbon or carbon-neutral solutions.
Last July, Marubeni completed what it claims was the first carbon-neutral ethylene voyage with a cargo imported from the US to Belgium.
The voyage was performed by Navigator Holdings' 21,020-cbm LPG carrier Navigator Triton (built 2015).
Marubeni and Navigator Gas offset the CO2 emissions of the voyage by investing in an environmental project in Cambodia designed to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Last month, Marubeni followed this with the delivery of a "carbon-neutral" ethylene cargo to Taiwanese state-owned refiner CPC at the port of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan.
The cargo was shipped from the same Texas facility on board Navigator Gas Holdings' 17,156-cbm ethylene gas carrier Pacific Venus (built 2018).
Marubeni and CPC obtained the carbon credits from Australian investment bank Macquarie by investing in an environmental preservation project in Indonesia.
TradeWinds recently reported that Germany's Hartmann Reederei had ordered up to three dual-fuel ethylene gas carriers at China’s Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering.
