Steel-cutting has begun on what Hoegh Autoliners says will be a game-changing series of eight zero-carbon-ready car carriers in China.
The 9,100-ceu Aurora vessels will be the biggest vehicle vessels in the world when delivery starts next year.
On Tuesday, representatives from Hoegh Autoliners, as well as DNV, Deltamarin and Clarksons, attended the steel-cutting ceremony at China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) marking what the Norwegian owner called “the tangible beginning of the creation of the future of deepsea shipping”.
VesselsValue has a newbuilding price of $97.5m on each on the ships, but they are already valued at between $100m and $108m, depending on delivery dates.
There are options for eight more dual-fuel carriers in the series, with the first four needing to be declared before the end of July.
Hoegh Autoliners told TradeWinds it could not comment on the likelihood of these contracts being firmed up.
It said these ships will be the most sustainable and environmentally friendly car carriers ever built as it aims for net-zero emissions by 2040.
They will be ammonia and methanol-ready, and TradeWinds reported last July that ships nine to 12 would skip LNG propulsion altogether and move straight to ammonia and diesel.
MAN Energy Solutions has said it can deliver large ammonia-burning marine engines by the fourth quarter of 2024.
This quartet would be on the water by 2026 if options are declared.
Faster than expected
Hoegh Autoliners’ original expectation had been to build the upcoming set of optional ships as dual-fuel LNG-diesel burners and convert the LNG fuel train and fuel injection systems to ammonia within five or 10 years.
“Today is a big day for both us and deepsea shipping. It is the tangible start of something that will change the industry,” said chief executive Andreas Enger.
“We are committed to building a more sustainable maritime industry in close collaboration with our partners and customers. Together with CMHI we are leading the way towards a net zero emissions future for our industry.”
The owner will take delivery of two Aurora vessels every six months from the second half of 2024.
Ships 13 to 16 in the series would be delivered in 2026 and 2027.
