Japan’s NYK Line has become the latest shipping company to announce it will use emissions capture and control technology to recover exhaust gases from ships.
NYK has concluded an agreement with STAX Engineering, a U.S. company in maritime emissions capture and control, and will now use this technology to recover exhaust emissions at berth from NYK-operated car carriers calling at ports in the U.S. state of California, starting in January 2025.
The use of the technology is designed to meet the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) expanded exhaust emission regulations for vessels calling at ports in the state.
CARB established emission regulations for oceangoing vessels in 2007. In 2014, CARB mandated that oceangoing container ships, passenger ships, and other vessels calling at California ports reduce their emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), reactive gases (ROG), carbon dioxide, particulate matter (PM), and diesel particulate matter (DPM) while at berth.
CARB plans to add car carriers and tankers to this regulation in 2025, making it an urgent issue to be addressed.
NYK expects the total amount of potential payment between NYK and STAX is $16m, noting that the technology will make capturing and controlling exhaust gases possible without installing additional equipment on the vessel.
As the company explains, the emissions capture and control technology uses steel pipes and hoses to connect a barge, a small flat-bottomed ship, or a land-based exhaust-gas treatment system to a vessel’s funnel, allowing exhaust gases to be captured without venting into the air.
Source: NYK Line
