During the Posidonia exhibition, which was organised from 6 to 10 June, we had the chance to talk with Messrs Katsuya Naito, General Manager, Zero-Emission Transition Center, and Masuaki Urata, General Manager, Public Relations Team, who described the ClassNK ZETA tool and how it can help shipowners and ship managers.

Can you describe to us the main functions and objectives of ClassNK ZETA?

We recently developed the ClassNK ZETA (Zero Emission Transition Accelerator) to help shipping companies achieve their zero emissions goals. Nowadays, shipping companies need to comply with many regulations, and in this context, ClassNK is supporting them by providing its services. Stakeholders examine our initiative in terms of sustainability beyond compliance. The CII will be implemented next year, posing an additional challenge for shipping companies.

ClassNK ZETA is a tool that links to the ClassNK MRV Portal, a system that stores data such as the fuel consumption of ships. Through the Vessel Monitoring function, every shipowner and ship manager can monitor the CO2 emissions and CII ratings of individual ships in real-time.

One of the features included in the ClassNK ZETA is Fleet Monitoring, which is almost the same as Vessel Monitoring, but in this case, shipowners can monitor the emissions of the whole fleet. So shipping companies can now monitor the CO2 emissions and CII ratings of individual ships and the entire fleet.

Simulation is another strength of the system. The database is very accurate as its source is verified fuel consumption data for regulatory reporting and enables simulations of CO2 emissions and CII ratings of individual ships and entire fleets while also taking into account changes in the speed of the vessels and fuel changes – for example, when a ship switches from HFO to LNG. In that way, shipping companies will know how to get optimised ratings, as simulation allows them to consider different ways to optimise a ship’s operations.

ClassNK ZETA also has a Periodical Report function. This report includes CO2 emissions by ship, fleet, voyage, etc. With the permission of the shipping company, the report can be already shared among various stakeholders such as financial institutions and charterers. We are preparing this function to meet the specific reporting needs of Poseidon Principles and other upcoming reporting requirements.

Approximately 2,000 vessels are using the ClassNK ZETA tool (till the end of June).