The 3,500TEU ammonia dual-fuel container ship jointly developed by Japan Marine Network Shipping (ONE), Japan Shipbuilding (NSY) and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) has received Approval-in-Principle (AIP) from DNV, marking another solid step on ONE's journey to zero net emissions by 2050. The award to the AIP is part of a joint development project (JDP) signed by the three parties at the end of 2022.
It is reported that ONE was established in 2017 after the integration of the liner businesses of Kawasaki Kisen (K Line), MOL (MOL) and Nippon Yusen (NYK). Under the alternative fuels roadmap developed in 2022, the company has been working on the feasibility of ammonia as a zero-emission alternative fuel. In conjunction with the roadmap, ONE participated in a pilot safety study for ammonia bunkering led by the Global Maritime Decarbonization Centre (GCMD).
"Ammonia is definitely one of the main focuses of research because ammonia fuel has the huge potential to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional marine fuels," said a ONE official. Following this AIP, the company will continue to conduct ammonia research. ”
"Ammonia is one of the promising marine fuels with great potential to decarbonize the shipping industry," DNV officials said. We are confident that once the infrastructure is in place, DNV's Ammonia Fuel Code guidelines will help shipowners adopt this new fuel safely. This groundbreaking JDP project will help the entire maritime industry adopt ammonia as a marine fuel. ”
Currently, ONE has set an ambitious target of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (Scope 2 and Scope 3) by 2050. To achieve this, the transition from conventional to alternative fuels is seen as a key initiative of the ONE Green Initiative. ONE plans to continue to research alternative fuels and aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
In the middle of this month (January 17), ONE announced that it has signed contracts for the construction of a total of 12 13,000TEU methanol dual-fuel powered container ships with China Shipbuilding Group Jiangnan Shipbuilding and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group, China's largest private shipbuilding company. The two shipyards will build six ships each, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2027. This order marks the official landing of ONE's first batch of methanol dual-fuel powered box ship orders.
Among them, six new ships of Jiangnan Shipbuilding will adopt the "Kun" series of ships independently developed and designed by the company, which is the first direct cooperation between ONE and China Shipbuilding Group. The six new vessels will be jointly designed by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and renowned design institutes, and will be equipped with an optimized hull alignment, waste heat ** system and bow draft shield, as well as an air lubrication system and shaft generator to improve fuel efficiency, which is the first order of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding in 2024.
It is understood that ONE is the world's sixth largest container carrier, and is also a member of the global ocean shipping alliance The Alliance (THEA), with a fleet size of about 1.8 million TEU.