Japan's Marubeni Corporation and Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Russian Ministry for Development of the Far East and Arctic (Minvostokrazvitiya) and Russian companies VEB.RF, VTB Bank, and ESN Group for a joint study to build and operate a methanol carrier equipped with a dual-fuel engine.
The vessel will be used to transport methanol that ESN will produce using natural gas from Russia's Amur region.
The partners expect that demand for methanol as a marine fuel will grow among ship operators in East Asia in the coming years.
The methanol carrier's engine will be capable of operating on either very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) or methanol, which can help reduce emissions of SOx, particulate matter, NOx, and CO2 by as much as 99, 95, 80, and 15 per cent, respectively, compared to conventional fuel oil.
