Page 30: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2018)

GREAT SHIPS GREAT SHIPS of 2018

MITSUI O.S.K. LINES, LTD.MITSUI O.S.K. LINES, LTD.

Beluga Ace: Beluga Ace:

New Design Car Carrier with Six Liftable DecksNew Design Car Carrier with Six Liftable Decks

Photos: Mitsui OSK Lines

Beluga Ace, the ? rst vessel of next- wind resistance and is expected to re- generation FLEXIE series car carrier duce CO2 emissions by about 2%.

built by the Minaminippon Shipbuild- The FLEXIE series aims to realize

Main ing Co., Ltd., was delivered to Japanese safer, more reliable, and more secure shipowner Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. operations by introducing a navigation (MOL) in March 2018. The space information display system that adopts

Particulars onboard was rearchitected using the augmented reality (AR) technology for design concept. The six liftable decks, the ? rst time to support the of? cers compared with two on conventional steering the ship, and adopting vibra- car carriers, allow loading of vehicles tion sensors to spot defects machinery with different heights. As a result, load- before they cause a breakdown. These ing ef? ciency was improved by 6.25% have great potential in realizing future from the conventional type of car car- automatic ship operation. The hull rier, which enables the vessel to meet design is a complete departure from demand for more diversi? ed vehicle current car carriers, boldly presenting and high and heavy cargo transport. “MOL” and the letter “A”, represent-

The FLEXIE series vessels adopt an ing a global brand of “MOL ACE array of advanced environmental tech- (MOL Auto Carrier Express)”, and a nologies, which were developed in the white line, which expresses the com-

MOL Group research and technology pany’s determination to connect its project, “Senpaku ISHIN project,” suc- long history of customer service to the cessfully achieving a reduction of 13.7% future in a seamless manner. As of No- in CO2 emissions compared to conven- vember 2018, three vessels in the series tional vessels. As part of the reduction, are in operation, and the number is to the rounded bow shape will minimize increase to four by March 2019.

30 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • DECEMBER 2018

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