According to a press release in the Journal of Commerce, Japanese container carrier, NYK Line has released an initial design for its NYK Super Eco Ship 2030, an energy-efficient ship expected to emit far fewer CO2 emissions than current vessel design.
The design was created by Monohakobi Technology Institute Co., Ltd. (MTI), a wholly owned NYK subsidiary focused on technological advances in shipping and logistics, together with Garroni Progetti s.r.l, an Italian designer of ships, and Elomatic Marine, a Finnish marine-technology consultant. The Japanese word "Monohakobi" means the carriage of goods.
The press release, well timed for Earth Day, advises that:
NYK Super Eco Ship 2030 will make use of progressive technologies that have the potential of being realized by 2030. The power needed to propel the ship can be lessened by decreasing the weight of the hull and reducing water friction. Propulsion power can be increased through use of LNG-based fuel cells, solar cells, and wind power, all of which will lead to a reduction of CO2 by 69 percent per container carried.
Comparison of NYK Super Eco-ship 2030 with a conventional 8,000 TEU container vessel is provided below.
|-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
| | Conventional Vessel | NYK Super Eco-ship 2030 |
|-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
| Length Overall | 338 meters | 353 meters |
|-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
| Breadth | 45.8 meters | 54.6 meters |
|-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
| Draft | 13.0 meters | 11.5 meters |
|-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
| Main power|Diesel Engine (C heavy oil) | Battery (LNG) |
| (Fuel) | 64 megawatts | 40 megawatts |
|-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
| Natural power | None | Solar: 1–2 megawatts |
| | | Wind: 1–3 megawatts |
|-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
| CO2 emissions* | 195 g/TEU-miles | 62 g/TEU-miles |
|-----------------+----------------------------+----------------------------|
*TEU-mile: Unit for the carriage of one TEU a distance of one mile
MTI is working on many other significant projects including R&D projects for new lashing and twist-lock systems and development of a ballast water treatment system.
NYK’s design is the latest in a move by shipping companies to promote their commitment to environmental protection. Other examples include the E/S Orcelle and CMA CGM’s Eco Containers.
The E/S Orcelle is auto carrier Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s visionary concept car carrier with a "zero emissions" capability which carries no ballast water on board. The E/S Orcelle, unveiled in 2005 was promoted as viable by 2025 and uses only renewable energy sources, including the sun, wind and waves as well as fuel cell technology, to meet all its propulsion and onboard power requirements.
French container carrier CMA CGM, has developed a fleet of environmentally sensitive shipping containers dubbed Eco-Containers which include bamboo flooring, reducing the use of rare tropical wood species, while improving technical performance. CMA CGM has also deployed low energy reefer container (specialized containers for perishable goods, requiring energy and refrigerant gases), to reduce fuel consumption and Light Steel containers, manufactured from an extremely strong high tensile steel which reduces the weight of these containers by 1200 pounds and thus consumes less fuel, further reducing emissions.
These are all very worthwhile projects and hopefully we will see more development coming from some of the other shipping lines around the world.
