Mitsui OSK Lines, one of Japan’s major shipping companies, opened a liquefied natural gas-fueled car carrier to select participants for an Ocean Day event held in Tokyo Bay on July 21.

The Celeste Ace ship is approximately 200 meters long and 50 meters tall and able to hold a maximum of 7,000 cars.

The Ocean Day event included a car loading demonstration, where trained drivers parked the cars just 10 centimeters next to one another and 30 centimeters in front of the other.

Currently, MOL operates around 100 vehicle carriers throughout the world, including the US that was working on a tariff deal with Japan at the time of the event.

S/ Abe Norio, Director General, Headquarters of Product Transport Business/ The cargo volume to the US hasn’t gone down. We haven’t felt a large impact on the cargo volume. Regarding the tariffs, it’s still being negotiated. We think the impact on the supply chain will depend on the negotiation results.

MOL said they would be able to reroute their ships to other regions even if car carriers to the US were reduced.

On July 22 in Washington, the US and Japan were able to strike a deal and reduce the proposed 25% tariff to 15%.

Following the announcement, stocks of Japanese automakers temporarily jumped over 13% for Toyota and 17% for Mazda from the previous day.