MOL and MOL Sunflower held a naming and launching ceremony for the first LNG-fueled ferry currently under construction at Uchiumi Shipbuilding on April 11 at the company’s Innoshima Shipyard. This is the third vessel in the MOL Group and the first LNG-fueled ferry on the Oarai-Tomakomai route.
At the ceremony, Tomoyasu Marutani, Chairman and Representative Director of SECOMA, christened the vessel “Sunflower Kamui. The ship’s name was chosen to express a sense of reverence for the Ainu people, and to represent the connection between tradition and the future by using an Ainu name for a ship of the new era. The Ainu people believe that everything around them has a “kamui” (a great power like a god or soul) that is always watching over them, so the ship was named in the hope that it will protect the sea and the global environment.
The design of the ship’s hull is accented with the beautiful blue of the sea and sky, and is said to express the image of “the sea at dawn” and “light illuminating a new era,” as well as “a ship stepping into a new future.
The second vessel is scheduled to enter service on the Oarai-Tomakomai route operated by MOL Sunflower in early 2025.
© Source travel watch