Japanese institutions are laying down new frameworks for green ship financing. Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and ClassNK have established the Zero-Emission Accelerating Ship Finance Program to evaluate the asset value of environmentally friendly ships.

ClassNK will evaluate ships based on a comprehensive scoring model jointly developed by DBJ from the perspective of decarbonisation, environmentally friendly performance, and innovativeness, and DBJ will then provide investment and financing.

As the first project under the program, ClassNK evaluated the LPG dual-fuelled large LPG carrier, Crystal Oasis, owned by Kumiai Navigation, which DBJ then provided a loan to Kumiai to finance its acquisition of the ship which delivered from a Japanese yard three months ago.