Japanese NYK Line is one of the worlds leading shipping companies, with more than 660 vessels, both chartered and owned, in its fleet. Impressive environmental efforts brought the company the prestigious 2005 Heyerdahl award for environmental excellence. "We consider the environment equal to safety," says Captain Hiroshi Sekine, General Manager of Safety and Environmental Management Group for NYK Line.
"Our focus in NYK Line when it comes to environmental safety is 99 percent on reducing the risks for accidents, which can cause devastating pollution. Protecting the environment is very important for us as a shipping company, and we have made strict requirements to ensure safe and reliable operations that all ships we operate must follow," says Sekine.
Compliance
NYK Line's quality assurance activities are based on a proprietary standard designed to achieve safe operations above a defined level. The standard is called "NAV9000".
"We request all ship owners and ship management services companies to apply these standards to their own management system. At present about 80 companies that charter ships to NYK have signed an agreement to follow these requirements," says Sekine.
NAV9000 has been designed in a way that if they follow it, then automatically operations are compliant with the ISM code. "If everyone followed the code, I believe there would be no incidents. However, some still don't comply," he says.
Near Miss box
An important part of NAV9000 involves the crews of every ship.
"We encourage every member of the crew on all our ships to become aware of all incidents that did not lead to accidents and to make a report, no matter how small, and drop it into a box called the "Near Miss Box". The reports can be anonymous. Last year, we had more than 6,000 such reports of Near miss and Unsafe Act/condition related to safe operations and environmental protection, which I think is some kind of record," says Sekine.
Most of the reports are concerning human error, and they are used to improve safety onboard even further.
Environmental efforts
In 2004, NYK Line published a Social & Environmental report detailing their efforts to ensure safe and responsible operations.
"In addition to safety considerations, we have taken a number of concrete actions to limit the adverse effects on the environment from operations. Ballast water exchange has been introduced, and ballast water treatment system is under investigation and development as a part of a countermeasure. We have also introduced waste management, and have over the last 10 years worked hard on creating the NYK bilge water treatment system, which our government is taking to the IMO (International Maritime Organisation)," says Sekine.
They are also in compliance with regards to the IMO regulations demanding low sulphur fuels, and are switching to low sulphur fuel on ships staying in Port of Los Angeles.
"New and advanced engines that are electronically controlled and burn cleaner, therefore emitting less nitrogen oxide (NOx), have been introduced on some of the new NYK ships. For six years from fiscal 2005 to 2010, the NYK Group will invest 1.38 trillion yen (equivalent to US$13.8 billion) to conduct fleet expansion to 880 ships, from the current 660 ships. We believe that the electronically controlled engine technology will be a key factor for these newbuildings. And over time, NYK Line is looking to improve the engine on all current vessels," says Sekine.
Hard to innovate hardware
Such hardware innovations take time and effort. Shipping companies are typically more focused on process improvements and strict routines as tools in promoting safe operations.
"We would like to see an increased drive for hardware innovations, such as improved wind generators, solar power and others, to make an impact on the shipping industry. It is very difficult for a shipping company such as ours to be innovative in this regard. It takes a very long time and it's costly. Classification societies are much better positioned, with plenty of data available. They should take the lead as innovators for the shipping industry," says Sekine.
A new vision for the future
According to Sekine, there is little environmental concern among the population in Japan. Unlike in the west, there isn't much pressure from environmental groups towards the industry to improve. But this does not reduce the environmental focus for NYK Line.
"We will continue our work and put our new environmental management vision into practice. The vision focuses on contributing to a sustainable society, while aiming to manage environmental risks.
It fits together with our motto "Sail on Safety", which underlines our mission to continue safe operations," says Sekine.