NYK Line has taken delivery of a dual-fuel very large gas carrier (VLGC) designed to transport liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and to accommodate ammonia as cargo, with the vessel set to enter service under charter to BGN INT DMCC.

The vessel, named Lucent Pathfinder, was completed at the Sakaide Works of Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

The naming ceremony took place on 9 January and was carried out by Takayuki Koike, LPG director at BGN, while Wendy Jungsuk Kwon, an LPG trader at the company, performed the rope-cutting ritual.

With a tank capacity of 86,938 cbm, the ship is the seventh dual-fuel LPG-fuelled VLGC ordered by NYK. It is designed to transport LPG and can also accommodate ammonia, which the company describes as a next-generation clean energy source that emits no CO₂ during combustion.

Propulsion is provided by a dual-fuel engine capable of operating on LPG or heavy fuel oil. According to NYK, electrical power generation is supported by recovering rotational energy from the propulsion shaft, reducing reliance on auxiliary generators and allowing the vessel to operate almost entirely on LPG during normal operations.

Use of LPG as a fuel reduces sulphur oxide emissions by more than 95% and lowers greenhouse gas emissions by over 20% compared with conventional heavy fuel oil.

The vessel has an overall length of 229.90 metres, a breadth of 37.20 metres, a depth of 21.90 metres, and a summer draft of 11.65 metres.

BGN INT DMCC is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates and is led by group chief executive Rüya Bayegan. Kawasaki Heavy Industries is based in Tokyo and is headed by president and chief executive Yasuhiko Hashimoto.