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Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd (K Line) has held a naming ceremony for its newly built liquefied natural gas carrier (LNGC) at the Nagasaki shipyard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd (MHI).

Named the Oceanic Breeze, the ship is part of the 'Sayaendo' series of ships designed by MHI.

To protect its Moss spherical tanks, the Sayaendo features a peapod-shaped continuous cover integrated with the ship's hull in lieu of a conventional hemispherical cover.

The lightweight continuous cover over the tanks is said to improve aerodynamics and therefore substantially reduce wind pressure and slash fuel consumption.

Also, with a conventional cover configuration, pipes, wires and catwalks atop the tanks are supported by complex structures. By covering the tanks with an integrated cover and making those supporting structures unnecessary, the new design is expected to improve maintainability.

For its main power plant, the Sayaendo adopts MHI's 'Ultra Steam Turbine Plant' (UST) - a new turbine that is said to provide higher thermal efficiency through the effective use of thermal energy by reheating steam.

The Oceanic Breeze will be time-chartered by Australia's INPEX Shipping Co., Ltd., and be used to carry LNG from the Ichthys LNG Project in Darwin, Australia, to Naoetsu, Japan.