Six companies, including Nippon Yusen, have obtained approval in principle (AiP) for the basic design of a standard low-pressure liquefied CO2 carrier. Looking ahead to the expansion of domestic CCS projects, they will proceed with design standardization and risk verification.
Nippon Yusen, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Nihon Shipyard, MILES and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding announced that they had obtained approval in principle (AiP) from ClassNK (Nippon Kaiji Kyokai) for a standard 42,000-m3-class LCO2 carrier.
The AiP reflects the companies' expectation of growing demand for LCO2 carriers to transport captured CO2 as part of domestic CCS projects. Based on a memorandum of understanding signed in December 2025, the 6 companies have been working to establish stable construction and supply in Japan and develop a CCS value chain.
For the risk assessment, the companies drew on operational knowledge of low-temperature liquefied gas carriers to verify risks specific to low-pressure LCO2. They established safety design policies through HAZID, leading to the AiP. Incorporating these policies into the standard design is expected to reduce the effort and improve the efficiency of future design and construction.