According to the company’s website press release on November 28, 2022, ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter "ITOCHU"), announced today that, together with Nihon Shipyard Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Yoshinori Maeta, President & CEO; hereinafter "Nihon Shipyard"), Mitsui E&S Machinery Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Ichiro Tanaka, President & CEO), Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Yukikazu Myochin, President & CEO), and NS United Kaiun Kaisha, Ltd. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Kazuo Tanimizu, President), has obtained an Approval in Principle (hereinafter "AiP") from Classification Society, Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (hereinafter "ClassNK") for the design of an ammonia-fueled ship (200,000 deadweight ton class bulk carrier).
The ammonia-fueled vessel (hereinafter "the Vessel"), which recently received an AiP, was developed by Nihon Shipyard as the part of the "Integrated Project for the Development and Social Implementation of Ammonia Fueled Ships" which was jointly adopted by "the Green Innovation Fund Project / Development for Next-Generation Ships / Development of Ammonia Fueled Ships" of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) (press release dated October 26, 2021 ). At this time, there are no international guidelines for the use of ammonia as marine fuel, so ITOCHU and partners are looking toward obtaining Alternative Design Approval*1 for the shipbuilding of the Vessel. A risk assessment (Hazard Identification Study – "HAZID") was recently conducted on the safety of using ammonia as marine fuel, and the basic design of the Vessel was evaluated as "capable of ensuring the same level of safety as ships operating with existing fuel.
The acquisition of the AiP is an important milestone for the implementation of ammonia-fueled ships, a new challenge for the maritime industry, and also an important step toward the further promotion of the "Integrated Project" being facilitated by ITOCHU.
ITOCHU and partners will proceed with the development of the Vessel based on the basic design for which the AiP has been obtained, and aims to take delivery of the Vessel and begin its social implementation in 2026.
ITOCHU will accelerate the development of sustainable energy systems through these initiatives, and will continue to contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society and sustainable local communities, and to the reduction of the burden on the global environment by steadily implementing the "Enhancing our contribution to and engagement with the SDGs through business activities" as one of the basic policies of the medium-term management plan "Brand-new Deal 2023".
*1Alternative Design Approval is to prove that the ship is as safe as a ship built in accordance with existing international regulations and to obtain approval from the competent authorities when the ship is designed without any international guidelines.
