Kawasaki signs contract to build world’s largest liquefied hydrogen carrier

07 01 2026 | 18:51Leigh Collins / HYDROGEN INSIGHT

The new vessel will have 32 times as much storage capacity as the only previous LH2 carrier, the Suiso Frontier

Japanese shipbuilder Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has signed a contract to build the world’s largest liquid hydrogen (LH2) carrier, as part of a long-term plan to ship clean H2 to Japan.
The new 250-metre-long vessel, which will be able to carry 40,000 cubic metres of LH2 (about 2,800 tonnes of H2), is scheduled to begin ocean-going trials by 2030.

The as-yet-unnamed ship will have 32 times as much storage capacity as the world’s first — and so far only — LH2 carrier KHI’s Suiso Frontier, which first hit the water in 2019 and subsequently shipped 1,250 cubic metres of liquid hydrogen from Australia to Japan in early 2022 (see panel below).

KHI and JSE said in a joint statement that the vessel has been designed “to respond to the global demand for hydrogen anticipated in the 2030s” and to “provide the foundation for the future hydrogen supply chain”.

Initial plans for the new vessel were for it to be able to carry 160,000 cubic metres of LH2, but the size was scaled back in November 2024 to “better match the [industry’s] needs”.

The ship, which will be built by KHI in the southern Japanese city of Sakaide, will use a diesel/hydrogen electric propulsion system powered by one “hydrogen/oil-based dual-fuel generator engine” and one “conventional oil-based generator engine”.

LH2 needs to be stored at temperatures below 253°C to remain as a liquid, but even top-of-the-range insulation cannot prevent some of the LH2 being warmed by ambient temperatures and returning to a gaseous state. This so-called boil-off gas (BOG) increases the pressure inside the storage tank, which could cause the tank to rupture if the BOG is not removed.
Although the boil-off gas could be simply vented into the atmosphere (which is far from ideal as H2 is an indirect greenhouse gas), the new vessel will instead use this excess hydrogen as a propellant in the dual-fuel generator engine.
Most companies planning to ship clean hydrogen internationally intend to transport hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia and methanol, as they actually contain more H2 molecules by volume than LH2 and are easier to store, with neither requiring cryogenic temperatures or BOG handling.

However, both ammonia and methanol would require energy-intensive cracking at their destination if the end user intends to use hydrogen, rather than the derivatives directly.

 

“By providing a stable supply of large volumes of hydrogen and supporting the decarbonisation of electricity generation, mobility, and industry, the new vessel will help to realise a hydrogen-based society,” KHI and JSE said.

“Kawasaki and JSE will continue to cooperate with diverse businesses to construct a commercial-scale, international supply chain for liquefied hydrogen and realise a carbon neutral society by 2050.”

Transport of hydrogen via ship must be supported by LH2 terminals, of which KHI is also taking a leading role in constructing.
In November 2025, KHI and JSE announced that they had begun construction on a liquid hydrogen receiving terminal on the site of a former steelworks in Kawasaki City, Japan, which should be operational in 2030.

JSE is a consortium of businesses established originally as a joint venture between KHI and Japanese energy firm Iwatani. It now also includes Ebara Corporation, Obayashi Corporation, Tokyo Century Corporation, the Development Bank of Japan, Mizuho Bank, and Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha.

 

Cover photo:  A rendering of the planned liquid-hydrogen carrier

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