United European Car Carriers (UECC), a Norway-based provider of shortsea RoRo transportation, has secured green financing for its new pure car and truck carriers (PCTC).
Obtained from Sweden’s Svenska SkeppsHypotek, the financing amounts to about USD 70 million.
UECC, which is jointly owned by Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and Wallenius Lines, ordered earlier this year three next-generation battery hybrid LNG PCTCs.
The ships, to be delivered from July 2021 onwards, were ordered from China Ship Building Trading and Jiangnan Shipyard Group.
“Securing green financing makes UECC eligible for reductions in borrowing cost. UECC has clear sustainability ambitions reducing harmful emissions and believe our new vessels will be an important step in this direction,” Thomas Thue, UECC’s CFO, commented.
“This takes the company a further step in the right direction making our whole value chain, from vessel to finance, more environmental,” Thue added.
The vessels will be equipped with a battery hybrid LNG solution which will place UECC beyond IMO’s target for a 40 percent reduction in carbon intensity by 2030.
“This is a giant leap towards decarbonization, and unlike anything else that has been done previously in our industry, I believe, and something that we are extremely proud of,” Glenn Edvardsen, UECC’s CEO, pointed out.
The vessels will have a length overall of 169 meters, a width of 28 meters and a car carrying capacity of 3 600 units on 10 cargo decks, of which 2 decks are hoistable. This will make the vessels extremely flexible enabling them to accommodate a multitude of high & heavy and break-bulk mafi cargoes, according to the company.
Moreover, the PCTC newbuilds will have a quarter ramp of 160 metric tons safe working load and a side ramp of 20 metric tons safe working load and will be able to accommodate cargo units up to 5.2 meters high.
To ensure a significant reduction in the environmental footprint, UECC, Jiangnan Shipyard and ship designer Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI) will build the PCTCs according to some of the latest energy efficiency criteria.
The vessels will meet the Tier 3 IMO NOx emission limitations coming into force the Baltic and the North Sea from 2021. In respect of the 2021 CO2 reduction regulations, the vessels will also be equipped with dual-fuel LNG engines for main propulsion and auxiliaries.
To make them even more environmentally friendly and to cut CO2 emissions further, the vessels will also be equipped with battery packages.
As more biofuels are set to become commercially available in the future, UECC aims to also use carbon neutral and synthetic fuels as part of its future fuel mix.
press release
