K Line to set up carbon-neutral promotion group

Japanese shipping major K Line is launching a new department focusing on businesses and projects for carbon neutrality including renewable energy effective on April 1st, 2021.

The new unit is being set up as the demand for decarbonization in the sector continues to grow, putting a major pressure on the businesses to move toward carbon neutrality.

“For the purpose of proactively responding to such needs, K Line will establish ‘Carbon Neutral Promotion Group’ and facilitate business development for net-zero CO2 emission along with related parties and companies of K Line group,” K Line said.

K Line aims to improve its CO2 emissions efficiency by 50 percent by 2030 compared to 2008 levels. Achieving the target will allow the company to surpass the IMO target of a 40 percent improvement.

The company is carrying several projects aimed at decarbonizing its business operations, including switching to LNG as a fuel, testing wind propulsion solutions and even carbon capture.

Specifically, K Line expects its first LNG-powered vessel to be delivered this year as the company increases focus on utilizing LNG as a transition fuel.

The ship will be bunkered by Kaguya, a 3,500-cbm LNG bunkering vessel, owned by Central LNG Marine Fuel Japan, a joint venture company of K Line, JERA, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK).

K Line is also working on the practical implementation of the Seawing kite system.

The Seawing kite system converts wind energy into propulsive force with its flying kite, and it was developed by Airseas, a spin-off of aerospace company Airbus.

K Line and Airseas signed a major deal in 2019, which stipulates installation and service of the system on board one of K Line’s bulkers.

The first installation on a Capsize ship, most probably sailing between Japan and Australia, is planned for this year after which demonstration tests will ensue.

The Japanese shipping major is also working on a project to deploy a small-scale, marine-use demonstration plant for CO2 capture onboard one of its vessels.

The project, called Carbon Capture on the Ocean (CC-Ocean), is intended to achieve CO2 capture at sea, a world first.

K Line will collaborate with Mitsubishi Shipbuilding and ClassNK to install the CO2 capture demonstration plant onboard its vessel, conduct test operations of the plant, and measure its performance.