Mitsubishi Heavy Delivers Iron Sand Slurry Ship Bound for New Zealand

On May 11, NYK accepted delivery of the Taharoa Destiny, a new 175,000 DWT class vessel dedicated to the transport of iron sand slurry from New Zealand.

Never heard of an iron sand slurry ship? Nor had we.

Essentially, a pipeline from shore is used to load this vessel by pumping the iron sand slurry into the vessel cargo holds. After the loading operation is completed, the water in the hold is discharged before the ship sails from port.

This is the only vessel in the world designed to load iron sand slurry and thus requires advanced operating and loading/discharging technique and know-how.

The ship was built at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.’s (MHI) Nagasaki Shipyard and Machinery Works and will be chartered to New Zealand Steel Mining Ltd. under a long-term contract. The Taharoa Destiny is expected to transport 1.2 million tons of iron sand slurry annually from New Zealand to China and Japan for 15 years. New Zealand Steel Mining Ltd. is a subsidiary of New Zealand Steel, which became a part of the BlueScope Steel Group in 2002.

NYK continues its efforts to provide stable transportation for natural resources.

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