SINGAPORE – Home-grown shipping line Pacific International Lines (PIL) is rolling out a US$2 billion (S$2.6 billion) plan to replace part of its fleet with 13 dual-fuel container ships that can run on both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and conventional marine fuel.
The move comes after PIL received a US$600 million lifeline from Singapore investment company Temasek’s wholly owned Heliconia Capital Management in 2021 to help it stave off bankruptcy. The bailout involved Heliconia taking a majority stake in the liner.
PIL is now among the top 12 container shipping lines globally and the largest in South-east Asia. Being home-grown, it is now Singapore’s de facto national shipping line after Neptune Orient Lines was acquired by French liner CMA CGM for US$2.5 billion in 2016.
The liner’s adoption of LNG ships solidifies its long-term plan to comply with the maritime industry’s emissions targets and operate sustainably in major trade lanes, chief executive Lars Kastrup told The Straits Times.
The first two ships were delivered in Shanghai on Oct 15 and named by the spouses of Temasek CEO Dilhan Pillay and PIL executive chairman Teo Siong Seng, better known as S.S. Teo. The Kota Eagle and Kota Emerald are two of the biggest in PIL’s fleet, with the capacity to move 14,000 containers each.
They will be deployed in PIL’s longest service between Asia and Latin America and will immediately reduce the liner’s carbon dioxide emissions on the route by some 20 per cent, as LNG is less carbon-intensive than convention bunker fuels, Mr Kastrup said.
But he added that the dual-fuel ships cost PIL around 20 per cent more to build compared with those powered by conventional fuels.
LNG is also 20 per cent to 25 per cent more expensive as a source of fuel.
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