LNG retrofit completed on Jones-Act Kaimana Hila

Kaimana Hila sports its sleek new windshield (Source: Matson)

 

Container ship Kaimana Hila has returned to service after being converted to an LNG propulsion and fitted with a bow windshield, at China’s COSCO Shipping Shipyard (Nantong).

The vessel has become the third of Matson’s Jones-Act fleet to be converted for use with LNG, which was not widely available at the time the vessels were built, Matson highlights. Work involved fitting three LNG tanks and their piping, as well as the engine repowering – another job for MAN PrimeServ – on the vessel’s ‘LNG-ready’ engine.

Renderings seen by Ship Repair Newsletter indicate the LNG tanks are fitted beneath the deck aft of the accommodation block.

The operation follows the retrofit of 2003-built Matson vessel Manukai for LNG earlier this year, which necessitated a complete main engine replacement, as the vessel was not built to ‘LNG-ready’ standards. Another vessel, Daniel K. Inouye, completed its retrofit in mid-2023.

It is not unusual to see vessels of the US’ Jones Act fleet retrofitted and converted a number of times before they are decommissioned, as the high cost of constructing a new vessel at a US shipyard, a legal requirement of the Act, encourages owners to get the best out of their existing assets.

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