Asahi News

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), NYK Group’s Asahi Shipping, and Kobe Steel have announced a successful trial run of biofuels on a voyage between Japan and Australia.The companies supplied biofuel via ship-to-ship transfer to the bulk carrier Sunrise Serenity at the port of Kobe in Japan. The vessel was supplied with biofuel by Toyota Tsusho Marine Fuels Corporation and then sailed to the port of Newcastle, Australia.The vessel is operated and managed by Asahi Shipping and…

Ask the right government department in any G7 state and you’ll find funding to put battery power for your vessel. Beyond funds, new battery makers and system integrators are ironing out safety issues, and a growing number of giga-sized cell factories offer hope that costs will fall for marine energy storage, as ESS choice grows. Efforts are also underway to recycle rare earth elements and to augment or greenify staggeringly high plant electricity inputs. Apart from funding, the drivers of change include constraints on shipping in Emissions Free Areas like the fjords of Norway…

One of its most significant initiatives in the Japanese shipping industry's push toward net zero is e5 Lab Inc., a consortium comprising Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd., Exeno Yamamizu Corporation, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corporation, with the purpose of developing renewably powered commercial ships.e5 Lab  recently unveiled ROBOSHIP – a design for a biomass fuel carrier, powered by a fully standardized, electric propulsion system to attain zero emission operations at harbour.

Japan's Asahi Tanker said it will start using the world's first electric-powered tanker for ship fuelling, known as bunkering, later this month in an effort to cut carbon emissions.Japan, which is the world's fifth-biggest CO2 emitter, aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, while the global shipping industry, which relies on oil to power its vessels, is trying to speed up efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases."The vessel's core energy system is completely electrified to achieve zero emissions of CO2…

An all-electric, battery-powered tanker—said to be the world's first—has been launched at the Koa Sangyo  Co., Ltd. shipyard in Japan.The new vessel, named Asahi, was built for Japanese shipping company Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd. and is scheduled to enter service in Tokyo Bay as a bunker fuel supply ship following completion and delivery in late March 2022. The 62-meter-long vessel has a tank capacity of 1,280 cubic meters.The battery-powered vessel was designed by e5 Lab Inc., a…

Japan's e5 Lab Inc. and Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., will provide the design for “ROBOSHIP,” a standard hybrid electric propulsion vessel the two companies are seeking to promote as a vision for the future of ships, for a 499-ton biomass fuel carrier being built by Honda Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.ROBOSHIP will be designed to use a standard system package comprising the hardware for electric propulsion, including propellers, motors, switchboards, storage batteries, and generators…

Japan's new Aegis missile-defense ships are expected to cost at least 900 billion yen ($8.27 billion), more than double the cost of two planned ground-based sites that the country canceled last year, the Asahi newspaper reported.Government ministers, who have yet to provide a cost estimate for the Aegis ships, may face questions in parliament about the expense, the newspaper said, without saying where it obtained the information.A source with knowledge of the ship proposal told Reuters in October that Japan may have to spend twice as much and wait up to three years longer to deploy new Aegis s

The past decade has seen tight restrictions on emissions from vessels, notably with a 2015 move to a .10% sulfur maximum in Emission Control Areas (ECA) in North America and in northern Europe. As the International Maritime Organization (IMO) now shapes shipping’s decarbonization future, shipowners are looking at transitions away from fossil fuels. Among the myriad of alternatives are lithium ion batteries and some early forays into hydrogen fuel cells.To date, large batteries are used on short runs…

Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries has ordered a Corvus Energy battery-based energy storage system (ESS) to integrate it into the zero-emissions all-electric propulsion and electrical systems aboard the “e5 tanker” under construction for Asahi Tanker.The battery-powered vessel was designed by e5 Lab Inc., a consortium of leading Japanese shipping and maritime services companies, including Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd., set up to build infrastructure services focused on electrically powered vessels.

Nearly a decade after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan's government has decided to release over one million tonnes of contaminated water into the sea, media reports said on Friday, with a formal announcement expected to be made later this month.The decision is expected to rankle neighboring countries like South Korea, which has already stepped up radiation tests of food from Japan, and further devastate the fishing industry in Fukushima that has battled against such a move…

It is “pre-COVID ” April of 2018, and 174 member states of IMO adopt a new strategy to reduce greenhouse gases from shipping. The meetings are considered “urgent” and the target is to reduce carbon emissions in half by 2050. Prior to those “targets” shipping dealt with regulations to address SOx and NOx reductions. Most of which have resulted in limited success due to infrastructure problems and a consideration as a temporary fix.The technical world has responded with low sulfur fuels, LNG, and methanol to work towards the target.

A group of Japanese partner companies have signed onto a project initiated by Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd. to build the world's first zero-emission, fully electric-propulsion bunker supply vessel.The so-called e5 Consortium, including Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd., Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., Exeno Yamamizu Corporation, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd., Tokyo Electric Power Company, and Mitsubishi Corporation, say they will work toward developing, realizing and commercializing zero-emission electric vessels.

Asahi Tanker Co., Ltd., Exeno Yamamizu Corporation, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., and Mitsubishi Corporation today announced their agreement to create a strategic partnership to provide new infrastructure services in the marine shipping industry that focus on electrically powered vessels. Their newly established company, e5 Lab. Inc. (e5 Lab) will work to develop and promote the greater use of these relatively clean modes of marine transport.There are a number of challenges facing Japan's shipping industry (see below)…

Japanese shipping major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and three other compatriot firms have joined hands to establish a new company that will develop and promote zero-emission fully electric vessels.Asahi Tanker Co, a shipping company to transport petroleum, Japan's largest trading company  Mitsubishi Corp, and the shipping & marine supplier  Exeno Yamamizu Corp have joined MOL to set up e5 Lab Inc that will consolidate the technologies, know-how and network of the four major shareholders.e5 Lab will work to develop and promote the greater use of these relatively clean modes of marine transport, MOL said in a press release.There are a number of challenges facing Japan's shipping industry (see below)…

Frontier Jacaranda, a bulk carrier operated by NYK Bulkship (Atlantic) NV., rescued a distressed yachtsman on January 18 (local time) in the North Atlantic.While Frontier Jacaranda was navigating for Rotterdam, Netherlands, the vessel received a call from the UK’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Center. The ship immediately headed to the instructed area and rescued a British yachtsman. The individual was in good health and delivered to the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) of the Republic of Cabo Verde on January 20.About Frontier JacarandaCaptain: Edgar Sulpecio C.

Innovative Electric Tanker design from Japan coming to local waterways by 2020The global push to dramatically reduce emissions from the world’s fleet of ships continues to drive innovation across the sector, including the introduction of a new Pure Electric Tanker concept released today from Japan. With ClassNK in place to make technical advice on the ship design and electric propulsion package, Asahi Tanker Co. Ltd. and its partner Exeno-Yamamizu Corporation Tokyo jointly developed the new domestic shipping tanker design which incorporates “zero emission electric propulsion.”Dubbed e5…

Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) has taken delivery of a coal carrier equipped with a binary cycle power-generation system that utilizes engine exhaust heat.The new coal carrier Pirika Mosiri Maru that NYK will own and operate to transport coal for Hokkaido Electric Power(HEPCO), was delivered yesterday (January 23) at Oshima Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in Saikai city, Nagasaki prefecture, and a delivery ceremony was held on the same day.The event was attended by Akihiko Mayumi, president and director of HEPCO and NYK president Tadaaki Naito, among others.Pirika Mosiri Maru, as the third generation ship, will take on the mission that has been handed down from the first-generation vessel named Sapporo Maru which was delivered in 1984 as HEPCO’s first coal ship…

Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and the marine transportation services provider Asahi Tanker Co have launched a new MR product tankers pool with a fleet of about 25 ships.The new pool, named Asahi MOL Tankers and headquartered in Republic of the Marshall Islands, will also launch MR product tankers that will be assigned to the pool.MR stands for Medium Range and refers to product tankers in the 45,000-55,000 deadweight ton class. This ship type has great versatility in transporting petroleum products such as gasoline, naphtha, gas oil, and jet fuel, and is in high demand around the world."The pool will own a fleet of about 25 vessels and allocate them mainly to Asia and Oceania from the three centers of Tokyo, Singapore, and London.

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line)  together with Asahi Shipping, has concluded a long-term contract with Kobe Steel for the transport of coal for up to 20 years aboard a newly built ship. After delivery of the new vessel from Oshima Shipbuilding in 2021, the ship will transport coal from locations outside Japan to mainly the city of Kobe. This ship will be equipped with a diesel engine compliant with a more stringent environmental regulation limiting nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions — i.e., the Tier III limits in the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) that require a reduction in NOx emissions by 80 percent compared to 2000 levels.

A new vessel has been ordered from Japanes shipyard Oshima Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. for delivey in 2021. The 98,500 dwt ship will mainly be used for transporting coal from locations outside Japan to the city of Kobe.NYK, together with Asahi Shipping Co. Ltd., said it has signed a long-term contract with Kobe Steel Ltd. for the transport of coal for up to 20 years aboard a newly built ship.This vessel will be equipped with a diesel engine compliant with a more stringent environmental regulation limiting nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions — i.e., the Tier III limits in the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) that require a reduction in NOx emissions by 80 percent compared to 2000 levels.Deadweight tonnage: about 98…

Two GE LM2500 marine gas turbines power the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Forces (JMSDF) newest destroyer JS Asahi (DD119). This first of two new destroyers in the JMSDF’s Asahi-class destroyer program was recently commissioned by the JMSDF. The ship was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) at its Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works in Japan. “We work in concert with IHI, our longstanding partner in Japan, to supply LM2500 marine gas turbines to the JMSDF for this new destroyer and other surface combatant programs,” said GE’s Brien Bolsinger, Vice President, Marine Operations.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) announced plans to work with Asahi Kasei Engineering Corporation (AEC) on a project to verify predictive detection of abnormalities in marine rotary machineries using vibrating sensors. The research will focus on the use of vibrating sensors to monitor the condition of key auxiliaries, such as pumps or purifiers, on a car carrier and VLCC that are under construction, using analysis software. The participants expect this project to create not only a standalone onboard monitoring system, but also to allow incorporation of data into the "Fleet Monitor" platform of real-time communication between ship and shore as a part of the Ship IoT system, allowing analysis of abnormalities as soon as they occur.

On November 30 at NYK’s 10th annual Environmental Management Conference in Tokyo, Asahi Unyu Kaisha Ltd. (head office: Aichi; president and CEO: Toshiya Kozawa) and the GENEQ Corporation (head office: Fukuoka; president: Keiji Ushiyama) were selected from among 33 domestic NYK Group companies for recognition of environmental activities that resulted in the improvement of company value. NYK holds this conference once a year with NYK Group companies to share information on environmental practices and strengthen environmental management. The two recognized group companies were highly commended for their rooted activities within their communities and creative solutions. Details are provided below.