Japanese shipping company NYK has started operating its test engine facility to evaluate the safety of new fuels and shorten review time, aiming for practical use within a period of three months.
NYK broke ground on the test facility in Chiba Prefecture at the beginning of the year and put it into operation on October 1.
NYK Group companies Boltech Co., and Nippon Yuka Kogyo Co. also participated in the project by utilizing their engine operation and fuel-oil-analysis technologies to verify the potential of various new marine fuels and accelerate their practical application and commercialization.
By establishing this facility, the company aims to overcome obstacles to the introduction of new marine fuels such as testing and analysis at external engine facilities, in addition to trial operations, which require about two years to complete.
At its new facility, NYK uses its own test engine to conduct stress tests and eliminate the need for trial operations, enabling practical use within a three-month period. The test engine is a reused generator from the tugboat Sakigake , which has been converted into an ammonia-fueled tug and delivered in August 2024.
The ammonia-fueled tugboat Sakigake is part of a Green Innovation Fund Project initiated in October 2021 under Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
The project was finalized in cooperation with Japanese company IHI Power Systems and classification society ClassNK.
NYK’s company Shin-Nippon Kaiyosha will employ the vessel in tugboat operations in Tokyo Bay over a three-month demonstration period.