At the 40th Environmental Awards
Nippon Yusen Kaisha and the Monohakobi Technology Institute (MTI), an NYK Group company, have received an award for excellence at the 40th Environmental Awards jointly sponsored by the Hitachi Environment Foundation and Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun Ltd.
The award was presented in recognition of the NYK Group’s development and operation of an energy-saving air-lubrication system for vessels, specifically because “global environmental preservation can be expected by the further progress and spread of this technology.“
This new technology effectively reduces the frictional resistance between a vessel’s bottom and the seawater by means of bubbles generated by air released from the bottom of the vessel.
In 2010, an air-lubrication system featuring a blower to provide air to the vessel bottom was permanently installed on two vessels operated by an NYK Group company, marking the first permanent installation of such a system within the shipping industry.
Over the next two years, CO2 emissions from these vessels fell by an average of 6 percent during sea passages. In 2012, an air-lubrication system featuring a scavenging-air bypass to provide air to the vessel bottom, a system more suitable for larger vessels having deeper drafts, was installed on a coal carrier for the first time and, depending on the amount of cargo carried, CO2 emissions were 4-8 percent less.
The awards ceremony was held on June 12 and was attended by NYK representative director and senior managing corporate officer Naoya Tazawa and MTI president Yutaka Yasunaga.
Source: NYK
