DALIAN -- A Chinese shipbuilding firm has started building two 7,500-cubic meter liquefied carbon dioxide carriers for Northern Lights, a Norwegian carbon capture and storage project.

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation Ltd, has independently designed and developed the vessels for liquefied carbon dioxide shipping.

Each ship is about 130 meters long and 21.2 meters wide. The first ship is scheduled to be delivered in the first quarter of 2024.

The ships -- designed to run on dual-fuel consisting of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and light diesel oil, respectively, -- are commissioned to be used for the European carbon dioxide capture and storage program. They will collect carbon dioxide produced by industries in Europe and transport it to the carbon dioxide receiving terminal on the west coast of Norway for processing, before injecting it into the seabed for permanent storage at 2,600 meters deep.