Modifications Slash Container Ship CO2 Emissions

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and the Monohakobi Technology Institute (MTI), an NYK Group company, have made energy-saving adjustments to a container ship resulting in a verified 23 percent reduction in CO2 emissions over half a year, greater than the amount estimated prior to the tests.
 
Containerships often sail at speeds much slower than the average speed anticipated when the ship was designed and built. To make existing ships more energy efficient at these slower speeds, the NYK Group has been conducting research since the summer of 2013, studying measures such as remodeling the ship’s bulbous bow and installing MT-FAST, a pre-swirl stator device that is attached to a ship's hull just forward of the propeller. It improves the flow of water around the propeller, and has been demonstrated experimentally to achieve fuel-savings of around four percent.
 
Big data analyses using actual voyage data gathered over half a year after the implementation of improvements made in June 2014 show a 23 percent reduction in CO2 emissions. They were subsequently certified by the ship classification society ClassNK. The conversion was also verified not to affect the safe operation of the vessel or the operating condition of the engine.
 
This adoption of energy-efficient technology is being supported by a grant provided through the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore’s Green Technology Programme and also supported by the ClassNK Joint R&D for Industry Program.
 
The NYK Group will aim for further energy savings on container ships by adopting the new approach on other vessels now that it has shown to be effective.