Drive Green Highway

All the world's auto carrying companies are jumping on the environmental band wagon and the Japanese shipping giant Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, better known as K-Line, is no exception. They took a major step in upgrading the design of their car carriers in 2015 when they began construction of a series of new ships. One factor in the design was the planned opening of the enlarged Panama Canal, which would allow for larger ships and thus reduce the cost per car to operate autocarriers. Carrying  up to 1,000 more cars per ship is a major upgrade.

Equally important however was to reduce the emissions of these ships as they delivered automobiles around the world.


The first ship in K-Line's series, Drive Green Highway, arrived in Halifax late Wednesday and sailed today. Built in 2016 by the Japan Marine United shipyard in Ariake, Japan, the 76,387 grt, 20,034 dwt ship is a full 200m long and 37.5m wide, allowing it to carry 7,550 cars. It also has a dramatically different paint scheme form the usual dull gray favoured by K-Line. In fact the scheme is an enlarged version of their red funnel with black cap and large white letter K.

To achieve their emission goals, K-Line uses a combination of exhaust gas recirculation and scrubbers to reduce nitrous oxide output by 50% and sulphur dioxide by 90% over conventional engines. Engine performance is such that the ship can steam efficiently at 20.5 knots. They also added a thin film solar panel array on the top deck, above the accommodation, to capture enough solar energy to power the LED lighting on the car decks.  Numerous other novel materials, controls and power saving devices have also been fitted.

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