Huge MOL Ship Joins Cayman Shipping Registry

by Philip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

13 June 2008

The Aquamarine Ace, a 200-metre ship designed as a 6,400-unit pure car/truck carrier (PCTC), built for Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) in Japan, has recently been added to the Cayman Islands Shipping Register (CISR), it was announced on Wednesday.

Built at the Kobe Shipyard in Japan, the vessel, the first of two identical PCTCs, embodies environmentally friendly measures such as low fuel consumption and equipment to reduce ocean pollutants, according to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).

Both the sides and the bottom of the ship’s fuel tanks are covered by triple-bottomed ballast water tanks as a measure to prevent ocean contamination.

Powered by an MHI UE diesel engine, the vessel has a speed of 20 knots, weighs 60,143 gross tons, and consumes about 20% less fuel oil than conventional ships of the same class.

The Cayman Islands Shipping Registry was established in George Town in 1903, and today has over 1,700 vessels on its books.

Cayman is a Category 1 member of the prestigious Red Ensign Group under the United Kingdom.

The CISR has a global network of services to accommodate its multinational client base, including a Representative in Tokyo, Yoshinori Uno.

The Aquamarine Ace joins other Japanese vessels on the Cayman Register, including the Matsuura, a 228-metre coal carrier, and the 203-metre Pro Grace, a woodchip carrier. Both are also owned by MOL.

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