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Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has developed a new bulk carrier which is said to enable reductions in CO2 emissions of about 25 percent compared with conventional bulk carriers.

As the first commercial application of the new design, MHI will provide its conceptual design and green technologies to three grain carriers, to be built for US firm Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM).

MHI's new bulk carrier design adopts the company's proprietary Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System (MALS), which reduces frictional resistance between the vessel hull and seawater using air bubbles produced at the vessel bottom, along with a high-efficiency hull form and enhanced propulsion system.

Sumitomo Corporation has received the order for the ship construction from ADM, and Oshima Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. of Nagasaki was selected to build the vessels.

Besides the MALS, which uses blowers to create air bubbles under the vessel bottom, the three grain carriers will also feature a newly-designed bow shape that will reduce wave-making resistance. For propulsion, the ship adopts a system to effectively convert the main engine power into propulsion power by positioning fins forward of the propellers and placing particular grooves in the propeller boss cap. MHI developed the MALS as a key measure to reduce CO2 emissions from ships.

The three grain carriers will be 95,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT) vessels: 237 metres (m) in length, 40m in width, and 12.5m in designed draught. According to MHI, the shallow draught of the ships facilitates energy savings and CO2 emission reduction efficiency by the MALS.

Oshima Shipbuilding will carry out the basic design work through to construction based on the conceptual design and green technologies provided by MHI. Delivery of equipment related to the MALS system from MHI is slated for 2014.

MHI's Shipbuilding & Ocean Development segment recently implemented a policy to promote its engineering business, including technological support to other shipbuilders. Under this policy, the company decided to collaborate with Oshima Shipbuilding, a firm that has earned a solid reputation in bulk carrier design and construction through delivery/order receipt of about 60 post-Panamax class ships.

"The collaboration has enabled the two companies to provide enhanced cost effectiveness to the customer," MHI said in a statement.

ADM is one of the U.S.'s top-ranking grain companies. The three bulk carriers, which mark the first new shipbuilding order placed by ADM, are designed to accommodate the needs of new new post-Panamax class vessels.

"The new bulk carriers are designed to make an important contribution to international efforts to fight global warming, a demand that is especially strong in the case of oceangoing vessels. Going forward MHI will continue to accord priority to the development of vessels addressing CO2 reduction needs by focusing on development of its "Eco-ship" and sales expansion of related systems and equipment," MHI said.

Note: "Post-Panamax class" refers to the ships that are unable to travel through the Panama Canal and "new post-Panamax" refers to the size limit of ships that will be able to travel through the Panama Canal after its planned expansion is completed in 2014: 366m in length overall (LOA), 49m in width and 15.2m in tropical freshwater (TFW) draft. Panamax parameters are 295.0 m in LOA, 32.2 m in width and 12.0 m in draft.