On January 9, a naming ceremony took place at the Sakaide Works of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. for a newly built very large gas carrier (VLGC). This vessel marks the seventh dual-fuel LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) carrier using LPG ordered by NYK. Upon its completion, the ship will be chartered by BGN INT DMCC (“BGN”; head office: United Arab Emirates), one of the world’s leading LPG traders, for the global transportation of LPG.
Approximately 30 stakeholders attended the naming ceremony. Takayuki Koike, BGN’s LPG director, officially named the vessel “Lucent Pathfinder,” after which Wendy Jungsuk Kwon, an LPG trader at BGN, performed the ceremonial rope cutting.
The vessel has an overall length of 229.90 meters, a breadth of 37.20 meters, a depth of 21.90 meters, a summer draft of 11.65 meters, and a tank capacity of 86,938 cubic meters.
The vessel is designed not only to transport LPG but also to accommodate ammonia, a next-generation clean energy source that emits no CO₂ during combustion. The name “Pathfinder” reflects our commitment to a future path toward decarbonization, while “Lucent” — meaning bright, shining, and radiant — evokes the vision of a safe and luminous future.
Lucent Pathfinder is equipped with a dual-fuel engine capable of operating on both heavy fuel oil and LPG. By utilizing the rotational energy of the shaft connecting the main engine to the propeller for power generation, the vessel significantly reduces the need for diesel fuel typically consumed by generators — enabling near-complete operation on LPG alone.
When LPG is used as fuel, emissions of sulfur oxides (SOx) in exhaust gases are reduced by more than 95%, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are cut by over 20% compared to conventional heavy fuel oil. Furthermore, the vessel is designed to accommodate the transport of ammonia, a clean energy source expected to see growing demand in the future.