On July 31, NYK received a delivery of coal carrier Ushio, which was docked at the Saiki Shipyard (Saiki City, Oita prefecture) after the shipping and logistics company bought the vessel from Honda Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (headquarters: Tokyo).
NYK held a naming ceremony where significant players in the deal were in attendance. JERA Co., Inc.’s executive officer, Masato Mizutani, was present at the ceremony with the managing executive officer of NYK, Nobuhiro Kashima, along with several other related parties.
Ushio is the NYK Group’s first-ever coal carrier meant for domestic coastal by JERA. The ship will transport coal delivered from abroad to the Yokosuka Thermal Power Station from a relay station in Tokyo Bay.
NYK Group is expected to offer innovative services through the operation of Ushio. Services that simultaneously connect domestic coastal shipping with oceangoing shipping and develop what NYK defines as “realizing an efficient secondary transportation network within Tokyo Bay to contribute to stable energy transportation.”
While the vessel is set to get operated by the NYK Group’s Asia Pacific Marine Corporation based on a transportation contract between JERA and NYK, the ship was designed to be environment-friendly. It features a hatch cover that allows for coverage during discharge operations as a dust-prevention precaution.
Although it seems that all is beneficiary of the allocation of Ushio, NYK and JERA are preparing for issues they foresee as potentially problematic. The operation data of this vessel will be gathered and used for research and development to bring to light how autonomous ships will affect domestic coastal shipping around Japan in the future, such as a decline in the number of seafarers and the long working hours of seafarers.
NYK has been making headway in the space of eco-friendliness. On February 3, 2021, NYK issued The “NYK Group ESG Story,” which strives to better integrate ESG into the company’s management strategy and encourages initiatives that contribute to realizing the SDGs through business operations.
More recently, on March 24, 2022, NYK released the updated “NYK Group ESG Story 2022,” where efforts to incorporate ESG into the Group’s management strategies while also outlining in the “NYK Group ESG Story,” which also gives a brief overview of the Group’s long-term sustainable growth strategy was introduced.
