Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries group, Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., “K” LINE, MOL, NYK Line, JMU and NSY have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a standard design framework to efficiently develop and carry out the initial design of liquefied CO₂ (LCO₂) carriers and next generation alternative fuel ships utilizing decarbonization technologies (such as ammonia fuel) where MILES Co., Ltd. (formerly known as MI LNG Company) as a platform will be responsible to develop and carry out initial design of the ships so that other shipyards in Japan will be able to carry out the functional and production design based on those common initial designs.

Those seven companies, through the establishment of this standard design framework, aim to collaborate with other domestic shipyards to realize the development and initial design of the ships with global competitiveness.

“K” Line, MOL, and NYK Line have decided to invest in MILES to accelerate this cross-industry collaboration in Japan, and will work to promote construction at multiple shipyards in Japan by utilizing this standard design framework.

Furthermore, JMU and NSY have also decided to invest in MILES in order to strengthen such collaboration so that the standard specifications and designs provided by MILES can be widely used in the domestic industry, thereby regaining global competitiveness for the Japanese shipbuilding industry.

Through this MoU, the companies will aim to contribute to the further progress of a sustainable carbon neutral society.