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New Environment-Friendly, Fuel-Efficient Techniques to Be Applied to New PCTC

October 15, 2003

NYK will incorporate the following four techniques for environmental protection into a new large-sized PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carrier), scheduled for completion in 2004. The new environment-friendly ultramodern ship capable of carrying 6,400 standard-size vehicles will be dubbed "ecoship" because of its ecologically-friendly features.

These four techniques combined will be able to reduce the discharge of carbon dioxide per loaded vehicle by about 7% compared with conventional vessels. Thus, they will go a long way toward alleviating the adverse effects of vessels on the marine environment.

NYK will continue to strive with added vigor for the development of new techniques from a viewpoint of protecting the environment and reducing fuel consumption.

NYK intends to develop a shipboard wind turbine generator under a joint project with Tokai University, Technova Inc. and NIPPI Corporation and install it on the new PCTC to conduct an experiment for its practical application.

To be initially developed is a straight-blade, vertical-axis wind turbine generator with a maximum power output of about 30 kilowatts. It will be installed on the new PCTC, scheduled for completion in August 2004, to collect shipboard operational data and analyze it for future practical use.

Such new shipboard wind turbine generators can be expected to help reduce the fuel consumption of ordinary generators aboard ships by effectively utilizing the renewable energy of ocean winds and consequently lower the discharge of carbon dioxide from vessels.

NYK plans to expand the new shipboard wind power system in the future by installing more than one wind turbine generator with a maximum power output of over 50 kilowatts to provide about 30% of electric power required during the voyage of a ship.

This turbine generator with vertically mounted symmetrical blades can be driven by winds from any direction. Therefore, they need not face into the wind like propeller type blades.

Since 2001, NYK has undertaken a joint project with other organizations, including Kyushu University, for the development of a ship type capable of reducing wind resistance to which PCTCs are subjected during their voyage.

As a result, a ship form that can reduce wind resistance without lowering the vehicle-carrying capacity has now been developed. Assuming that a ship proceeds against a wind with a velocity of 10 meters per second, the new ship type can lower wind resistance by about 15% and consequently, reduce the discharge of carbon dioxide by about 2%. An application has been filed for a patent on this ship type.

The conventional ballast tank will be replaced by a solid ballast of heavy concrete with a greater specific gravity of about 3.5. This will feature the following advantages:

1. Coping with the ballast water problem
   The movement of marine creatures to different areas can be minimized by reducing the intake/discharge of water to the greatest possible extent.
2. Reducing carbon dioxide discharge
   The improved stability of a ship will make it possible to greatly increase the number of vehicles loaded on the uppermost deck and thereby to lower the discharge of carbon dioxide per unit cargo volume.

This navigation support system now under development is designed to help a ship's captain choose a course in a stormy sea by providing the short-term forecast of various data including hull motions (such as rolling), drift, rudder angle, speed loss, and fuel consumption through a shipboard personal computer. This will ensure the choice of a safe and fuel-efficient course.

This navigation support system can be expected to prove highly effective in reducing the discharge of carbon dioxide not only from the above-mentioned hardware aspect, but also from a software aspect.