The new tanker vessel YOT-01 for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) was launched in Shin Kurushima Dockyard in Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, on 20 October. Built to merchant ship tanker standard, the tanker can carry 4,900t of fuel. ‘YOT-01’ will be commissioned into the JMSDF in April 2022. This oil tanker vessel is scheduled to be commissioned next spring and will be responsible for transporting fuel from the refinery to the JMSDF base. This is the first time that the JMSDF owns an oil tanker.
Shin Kurushima Dockyard received a JPY5.06 billion ($44.6 million) order for two tankers in March 2020. Founded in 1902 under the name of Habohama Docks, which became Kurushima in 1949 then Shin Kurushima in 1980 (Shin means “new”), the company is headquartered in Tokyo and is composed today of several yards located in Akasaka, Ujina (Honsh?), Fukuoka (Ky?sh?), ?nishi and Imabari (Shikoku). Shin Kurushima specializes in small displacement transport vessels mainly for short range transit in the Japanese archipelago and its surroundings.
