Japanese shipping company IINO Lines has taken delivery of an LPG dual-fuel very large gas carrier (VLGC), Lumi Aurora, from South Korea's Hanwha Ocean, the shipbuilder formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and renamed following its 2023 acquisition by Hanwha Group.

The handover took place at Hanwha Ocean's Okpo Shipyard, and the vessel is the third LPG dual-fuel ship to join the IINO Group fleet, the company said in an announcement on Wednesday.

Lumi Aurora can use LPG as a marine fuel, helping to reduce CO2 emissions compared with vessels powered solely by conventional marine fuels. LPG also contains virtually no sulfur, supporting compliance with the 0.5% global sulfur cap that IMO regulations have placed on marine fuel since 2020. The carrier is also designed to transport ammonia in addition to LPG, a cargo that has drawn growing industry attention as a potential zero-carbon shipping fuel and as a hydrogen carrier.

The vessel is fitted with Ice Class IB capabilities, which IINO said makes it the world's only VLGC with this level of ice-class capability. With assistance from icebreakers, Lumi Aurora can navigate ice-covered waters in the Baltic Sea during the winter season. Ice class ratings under the Finnish-Swedish ice class rules govern winter trading in the Baltic, where Finnish and Swedish authorities require ice-classed tonnage for port calls during the ice season, with the class level determining sailing restrictions and icebreaker assistance.

LPG remains a niche alternative bunker fuel for now, being used almost exclusively in gas carriers, where the cargo itself provides a ready fuel supply without the bunker infrastructure that has held back adoption in other ship types. Investment in alternative-fuel tonnage across shipping has accelerated since the International Maritime Organization adopted its revised greenhouse gas strategy in 2023, which targets net-zero emissions from international shipping by or around 2050.

Source: Ship & Bunker