On September 8, Auriga Leader, an NYK PCTC (pure car truck carrier) was recognized as the ship of the year at the Lloyd’s List Global Awards 2009. Together with customers and colleagues, Svein Steimler, executive vice president of NYK Group Europe Ltd., accepted the award on behalf of NYK.
 
The Lloyd’s List Global Awards annually recognize a wide range of maritime excellence, from best shipmaster to the company that contributed most to clean oceans. More than six hundred guests attended the gala celebration dinner at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel.

AlastairCampbell, the press secretary for former Prime Minister Tony Blair, acted as master of ceremonies.
 
Lloyd’s List gives the Ship of the Year Award to celebrate a vessel delivered in the past year that has set a new benchmark in terms of design, innovation, and efficiency. This year’s winner was described by the panel of judges as a remarkable ship.
 
The solar-power-assisted Auriga Leader (60,213 gross tons), which is equipped with 328 solar panels, has been used to experiment with propulsion systems that run in part on solar power. The systems have been jointly developed by NYK and Nippon Oil Corporation (head office in Minato-ku, Tokyo; president, Shinji Nishio). Auriga Leader has recently completed its fourth voyage. As initially foreseen, solar power was able to afford 0.05% of the ship’s propulsion power and 1% of the electricity used for everyday onboard needs such as cabin lighting and kitchen work. This change will reduce fuel consumption and the consequent CO2 emission.