Large Gas Carriers

IINO transports liquefied gases such as LPG, Liquefied Petroleum Gas, and LNG, Liquefied Natural Gas aboard a fleet of large gas carriers fitted with special equipment such as refrigerated tanks and compressors.

Our business history with large gas carriers began in 1963 with TOYOSU MARU, a VLGC, Very Large Gas Carrier, placing us among the pioneers in this industry. Our safe and stable transport services, backed by our long history, experience, and technology, are highly regarded by customers in Japan and overseas, and we are expanding our business widely, focusing on medium- to long-term contracts.

In the LPG transportation business, we are playing a role like LPG pipeline at sea, connecting each countries, destinated for Far East and Japan as main importing countries, India where LPG demand is booming, and for South East Asia countries with our decades of shipping experience.

In the midst of the decarbonization trend, LNG is playing a key role as a clean source of energy from its economic and environmental aspects, and LNG seaborne trade is increasing worldwide as a number of new projects are commencing. IINO Group has been involving in LNG business not only Japan-bound but also trilateral LNG transportation projects from early stage. In 2005, we also began ship management of one LNG carrier SK SUNRISE, chartered by an overseas company, and have been working to accumulate experience in the LNG transportation and to expand our business.

As a new initiative, we signed long-term contracts in November 2022 for two VLECs, Very Large Ethane Carriers, which represents IINO’s first adventure. Ethane is used to produce ethylene, a raw material of chemical products such as plastics, and is attracting attention because it is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than naphtha, which is a conventional ethylene raw material derived from crude oil. Both vessels are equipped with dual-fuel engine that can use ethane as a fuel, and are scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 respectively.

In terms of IINO’s initiatives to reduce environmental impact, two VLGCs equipped with dual-fuel engine that can use LPG as fuel were delivered, CALLUNA GAS in February 2022 and OCEANUS AURORA in March 2023. LPG as fuel is a safe and environmentally clean energy, and is able to reduce emission of CO2, SOx and NOx compared to a conventional heavy oil significantly. These two vessels have the latest technology in accordance with stricter CO2 emissions standards, that are applied to very large gas carriers to be contracted in 2022 or later. In addition, the world's first ammonia carrier designed and built based on the basic certification for ammonia-fuel-ready ship by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), a global classification society, is scheduled for delivery in January 2024.