Bureau Veritas has already approved the basic design of the container, whose technology is claimed to deliver the highest efficiency among existing propulsion systems. It works by simultaneous dual burning of LNG and Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), providing overall CO2 emission reductions in the order of 23% and SOX reductions of 92%.

“The market will determine when these ships can be ordered and built, but this is a real milestone as for the first time we have a fully worked and approved design for a main line ultra-large containership running on LNG. There are no technical or safety barriers to introducing LNG as a fuel for long-haul large containerships. Major operational savings are deliverable, combined with very much lower air emissions,” said Jean-Francois Segretain, deputy technical director, Bureau Veritas.

The ship is of 365.5m length overall, with a design draught of 14m and a design speed of 24 knots. In the dual fuel configuration a 22,490m3 LNG prismatic tank would be installed under the forward accommodation, and there would be a bunker tank for heavy fuel oil aft of 4,430m3 capacity, reported Motorship.com.