NYK takes delivery of ammonia-powered engine for tugboat conversion project

Japanese shipping company NYK has taken delivery of a domestically manufactured ammonia-powered engine to be installed on a tugboat which is set to become the world’s first commercially operated ammonia-fueled ship.

The engine, jointly developed with IHI Power Systems and ClassNK as part of the Green Innovation Fund Project within Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), was delivered to NYK on February 1, 2024.

It will be installed on an ammonia-fueled tugboat scheduled for delivery in June this year. The tugboat is currently being converted to run on ammonia fuel instead of LNG.

NYK started the conversion of the LNG-fueled tugboat Sakigake to an ammonia-fueled tugboat at Oppama factory of Keihin Dock Co. in October 2023.

To replace the entire engine, including the main engine and fuel tank, the engine room will be cut to remove the existing LNG-fueled equipment and install the new ammonia-fueled machinery.

The new engine has been tested at IHI Power Systems’ Ota Plant (Gunma Prefecture) to confirm virtually zero emissions from the unburned ammonia and the nitrous oxide (N2O), which has a greenhouse effect about 300 times greater than carbon dioxide (CO2), according to NYK.

Together with JERA and Resonac, NYK also initiated a study to achieve the supply of ammonia fuel to the ammonia-powered tugboat.