NYK boss outlines decarbonisation growth strategy
The head of Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), one of the world’s largest shipping companies, has revealed the size of his organisation’s carbon footprint, and the opportunities he sees from being a first mover to slash emissions.
Speaking on the occasion of the 137th anniversary of NYK’s founding, president Hitoshi Nagasawa revealed the group, which also has a cargo airline among its holdings, emits a total of around 17m tons of greenhouse gases (GHGs) per year.
“We are heavily responsible for these emissions and will eventually have to bear the costs, such as carbon taxes,” Nagasawa said, adding: “In the future, I believe society and customers will choose companies that earnestly work to reduce GHG emissions. Thus, such efforts can be a growth strategy.”
In terms of future fleet development, Nagasawa said NYK was keen to grow its offshore wind power generation business, as well as developing liquefied CO2 carriers and ships powered by ammonia.
Born of the merger of Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company and Kyodo Unyu Kaisha in 1885, NYK’s famous nibikiflag features two thick red lines on a white background to symbolise the union of the two companies from which NYK arose. The flag’s colours feature on most NYK funnels too.
