World’s first ammonia tugboat classed

The Sakigake is the world’s first ammonia-fuelled vessel for commercial use, says NYK Line. It will be used by the NYK Group company, Shin-Nippon Kaiyosha, in tugboat operations in Tokyo Bay over a three-month demonstration period.

The tug has been built under the aegis of the Green Innovation Fund Project begun in October 2021 under Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation.

The project aims to develop vessels equipped with domestically produced ammonia-fuelled engines. ClassNK is involved in the vessel safety assessment as a partner organisation for this project.

Its 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 run on ammonia.