"K" Line's LNG Powered Car Carrier Project

Caption: The radical new design of K-Lines futuristic LNG fuelled Car Carrier.
Image credit: Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd.

Shipping line Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (K-Lines), Japan is developing, together with engine builder Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd (KHI) and Norwegian classification society DNV, a car carrier to be powered by Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). The vessels of length 470 ft (143 m) will have a capacity for 2,000 automobiles and is planned to be in service by 2015. This new design will operate predominately to and around Europe due to exhaust emission regulations. According to K-Lines, switching from bunker fuel to LNG, CO2 emissions can be reduced by approximately 40 per cent, NOx by 80 to 90 per cent and both SOx and PM eliminated.

The vessel will have two LNG tanks, each in its own independent compartment. To ensure safety in the event of a collision or other marine incident, the tanks will be located a certain distance from the vessel’s outer shell and bottom. As a further safety measure two different types of fuel pipes will be used.

Propulsion is by twin Kawasaki KG-12 twelve cylinder Green Gas engines each of 5MW at 720 rpm. The engines are lean burn with pre-chamber and spark plug, removing the need to use a liquid fuel for pilot ignition of the gas.


Unusually a twin input, single output (TISO) gearbox drives a single CP propeller. In addition to an auxiliary diesel genset running on MDO/MGO, the gearbox has a PTO for each engine driving a generator. Under normal operation, power from one generator is sufficient for internal electric power demand. In harbor both generators provide sufficient power for operation of the bow thrusters.

Caption: Propulsion system block diagram
Image credit: Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd.