Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation and Air Water Plant & Engineering Inc have agreed to operate a manufacturing and sales business in Vancouver for tank containers for transporting LNG and related products.
The companies will establish a new joint venture, Hitachi High-Tech AW Cryo, Inc. (HTAW). This project includes a capital investment of $2.2 million and will begin operations June 2.
Air Water Plant & Engineering Inc. is a subsidiary of Air Water Inc. that holds the top share of the LNG tank lorry market in Japan.
The North American natural gas market has seen prices driven down by a massive increase in production volume triggered by the shale gas revolution. This in turn has stimulated growth in demand, not only for large volume demand at large-scale power stations and other facilities, but also small- and medium-volume demand.
As a result, natural gas is expected to be used in various applications, such as in small-scale power plants and LNG-powered locomotives. In line with this, there is a growing need for small- and medium-volume natural gas transportation means such as trucks and railways, rather than the conventional large-volume transportation means of pipelines, the group stated.
The newly-established HTAW will conduct a manufacture and sales operation for the LNG transport tank containers and related products, which offer high transportation efficiency, to realize safe, efficient transportation of small to medium volumes of natural gas.
Specifically, HTAW will use Hitachi High-Tech’s sales expertise and network in the North American market to market LNG transportation tank containers that use AWP’s cryogenic thermal insulation technologies offering superior performance against shock and vibration during transport. HTAW will focus its operations mainly on regional energy supply companies and major logistics companies in the U.S. and Canada, targeting net sales of 12 billion yen in fiscal 2020.
