Pasha Hawaii Confirms Order for Two LNG-Powered Containerships at Keppel

Credit: Pasha Hawaii

Pasha Hawaii will be adding two more ships to its fleet providing Jones Act shipping service between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii with the addition of two newbuild gas-powered containerships.

Honolulu-base Pasha Hawaii announced Thursday it has inked contracts for two liquefied natural gas fueled to be built at Brownsville, TX-based Keppel AmFELS, a subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine.

Keppel said the contract for the vessels is worth more than $400 million.

Construction of the two containerships will begin immediately, with delivery of the first vessel expected in 1Q 2020, and the second vessel in 3Q 2020.

The two ships were first announced in May when Pasha Hawaii said it had selected Keppel to construct the vessels but the contracts were still being finalized. The company said originally it was planning to build up to four ships, although there was no mention of options in today’s announcement from Pasha Hawaii or Keppel.

The new, 774-foot vessels will designed with a capacity of 2,525 TEUs, including a fully laden capacity of 500 45-foot containers, 400 refrigerated containers, and 300 40-foot dry containers, with a sailing speed of 23.0 knots. “The ship’s hull has been fully optimized using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and will be one of the most hydrodynamically efficient hulls in the world,” Pasha Hawaii said in a statement, adding that the new vessels will operate 100% on LNG from day one in service.

“This contract with Keppel allows Pasha Hawaii to continue to move forward in our commitment to providing the best resources possible for our customers and Hawaii’s shipping industry, while minimizing our environmental footprint,” said George Pasha, IV, President and CEO, The Pasha Group. “We are proud supporters of the Jones Act and look forward to working with Keppel’s team of highly skilled shipbuilders.”

For Keppel, the order marks its first in the Jones Act shipbuilding market.

“We are pleased to have been chosen to build these two LNG-fueled containerships to our innovative design for operation in Pasha Hawaii’s fleet,” said Simon Lee, President of Keppel AmFELS. “Keppel O&M is at the forefront of designing vessels that run on LNG propulsion systems and has the experience in LNG vessel conversions as well as the expertise in newbuild specialized vessels. We look forward to building these ships which will have a direct impact on American jobs at our shipyard and suppliers across the country.”

The finalized contract is the latest containership order among carriers in U.S. mainland to Hawaii. 

Last week, TOTE Maritime announced its intention to launch a new Jones Act shipping service to Hawaii with two 3,700 TEU containerships already under construction at Philly Shipyard. The vessels will be delivered in 2020 and 2021 and the order includes options to build up to two additional ships. 

Philly Shipyard is also building two 3,600 TEU “Aloha Class” containerships for Matson, Inc. for operation in the Hawaii trade. Those ships have planned deliveries of 2018 and 2019.

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