HMS SANDOWN

Emissions saving kit to be fitted to NYK ships
$21 million project to reduce emissions at dockside
 

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK ) announced today that it will deploy thirty-eight ships of its container vessel fleet with Alternative Maritime Power (AMP) technology over the next few years at a cost of $22 million.

The Panamax and post-Panamax vessels (ships that are able or not able to traverse the Panama Canal due to their size) range in size from 4,800 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU's) to 8,600 TEU's.

Following the lead of the NYK ATLAS, the first NYK vessel built from the keel up to utilize AMP, twenty new ships currently on order will be delivered with AMP capability. In addition, seventeen ships presently in service will be retrofitted with AMP technology during their regularly scheduled inspections. The first ship to be retrofitted will be the NYK APOLLO which will enter dry dock in November of this year. The company expects to have over thirty of the AMP capable vessels in service by the end of 2009.

The NYK ATLAS presently operates between Asia and the West Coast of North America. The vessel is currently participating in AMP testing at NYK"s terminal at the Port of Los Angeles which is managed by Yusen Terminals, Inc.

AMP technology allows a vessel to shut down the onboard diesel power generators while at berth and connect directly to more environmentally friendly shore-side electrical power. Utilizing shore power while at dockside significantly reduces and almost eliminates the vessel's emission of gases which contain pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur oxide (SOx) and particulate matter (PM).

In addition to the AMP technology, eight of the 8,600 TEU containerships that NYK currently has on order will be equipped with electronically controlled engines to further reduce air emissions and leak-preventing hulls to protect the marine environment.

"NYK will continue to make the environment its top priority," said Kenji Mizushima, Corporate Officer, NYK Line. "Striving to develop and utilizing environmentally conscious engineering and equipment reinforces our company's environmental policy of 'The Earth is Our Home'".