Advanced Notation Awarded For Green Steel Use

ClassNK has granted the class notation ‘a-EA (GRS)’ to Bright Queen, the bulk carrier operated by NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers, certifying the use of green steel in its construction.

This is the world’s first case of a notation being affixed for using green steel in a ship.

For Bright Queen, built by Higaki Shipbuilding, ClassNK confirmed the use of JFE Steel Corporation’s green steel JGreeX, for which it had previously conducted third-party certification of the GHG emissions reductions made in the manufacturing process.

For each JGreeX™ product, JFE Steel uses the mass balance approach to determine the level of CO2 emissions reductions. Under this approach, the environmental values of CO2 emissions reductions across entire manufacturing processes are aggregated to any products considered to have low CO2 emissions intensity.

ClassNK issued its most recent Environmental Guidelines in February 2024. These guidelines set out criteria, including the "a-EA (Advanced Environmental Awareness)" notation for ships with advanced environmental measures, and include the use of green steel products in ship structures and other components.