K Line’s new bulker to become world’s largest ship using only green steel

Japanese shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) has decided to employ JGreeX, the green steel product manufactured by JFE Steel Corporation, for one of its newbuild bulkers.

The Ultramax bulker will be built by K Line’s compatriot shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding and completed in 2026.

JGreeX is green steel that significantly reduces CO2 emissions in its manufacturing process. The Ultramax bulker will be the world’s largest vessel using only green steel, according to K Line.

Earlier this year, JFE Steel Corporation started supplying a variety of green steel products under the JGree brand. They are produced with ‘highly advanced’ steelmaking processes that result in significantly less CO₂ emissions than conventional products.

Choosing green steel for its bulker is said to be in line with K Line’s long-term environmental policy. K Line’s Environmental Vision 2050: Blue Seas has targets reorganized around the two issues — decarbonization and the aim for zero environmental impact.

The Japanese shipping company K Line wants to have zero-emission vessels by 2030.

In 2021, the company revised the K Line Environmental Vision 2050 replacing the goal of halving emissions by 2050 with the aim of achieving net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.