K Line conducts test voyage of tugboat using marine biofuel at Nagoya Port in Japan

K Line Port Service Co. Ltd., a group company of Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (K Line), announced June 22 that it has conducted a demonstrative test voyage with the tugboat Aihomaru operating in Japan’s Nagoya Port using next-generation biodiesel fuel.

Biodiesel is a carbon-neutral fuel defined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidelines and a decarbonized fuel that can be used without changing the specifications of existing marine diesel engines by mixed combustion with heavy fuel oil (HFO), which is the main fuel for ships.

The biodiesel fuel supplied by Toyotsu Energy Corp. May 10 at Nagoya Port is made from waste cooking oil.

This initiative contributes to a circular economy through the construction of a supply chain based on local production for local consumption.

In the demonstrative test voyage, the bunkering vessel supplied marine biofuel to the Aihomaru with using a ship-to-ship method, with the aims of verifying that there is no hindrance to the series of ship operations and reducing CO2 emissions in operation.

The K Line Group’s long-term environmental guidelines—the K Line Environmental Vision 2050-Blue Seas for the Future—set a target of 50 percent improvement in CO2-emission efficiency in comparison with 2008, which exceeds the 2030 target of 40 percent improvement in CO2 emission efficiency (also in comparison with 2008) set by the International Maritime Organization.

K line also said it “aims to contribute to the enrichment of people’s lives by driving its own decarbonization efforts and supporting the decarbonization of society, declaring the target of attempting to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.”

Going forward, the group said it will continue working to achieve these targets by introducing alternative fuels that can reduce its environmental impact.