Image: NYK / The predecessor, the LNG-fuelled tugboat of the same name.
Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and IHI Power Systems completed the world’s first ammonia-fuelled tugboat for commercial use in cooperation with Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK).
The ammonia-fuelled tugboat Sakigake, built in 2015 with 278 tons (gross tonnage), will be employed by NYK’s group company Shin-Nippon Kaiyosha in tugboat operations in Tokyo Bay over a three-month demonstration period.
The predecessor, the LNG-fuelled tugboat of the same name, was completed in August 2015 as the first LNG-fuelled vessel in Japan.
After eight years of tug service in Tokyo Bay, the vessel was docked at the NYK Group’s Keihin Dock for conversion to an ammonia-fuelled vessel.
The main engine, etc., were replaced with ammonia-fuelled ones, and sea trials were conducted using ammonia as fuel.
The completed vessel has taken the name Sakigake, and now NYK hopes that “this tugboat will be a pioneer of ammonia-fuelled vessels.”
