Japanese transportation group NYK has became he first recipient of the newly created "Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award".

The accolade was presented at the 16th annual Earth Environment Awards ceremony this month which is sponsored by the Fujisankei Communications Group, an NYK statement said.

The Earth Environment Awards are given to corporations and organisations which make significant environmental preservation contributions. This was the second time NYK was recognised at the Earth Environment Awards, following the company's receipt of the Nippon Keidanren Chairman Award in 2005.

At this year's ceremony, which was held in Tokyo, the NYK Group's chairman Takao Kusakari accepted the award from Yoshio Mochizuki, Japan's senior vice-minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, in the presence of Prince and Princess Akishino.

The prize recognized NYK's efforts towards establishing maritime pollution prevention measures and environmental protection strategies on a global scale. NYK's achievements include reducing the amount of oil contaminated water, or bilge, that was generated in the engine rooms of its ships and would subsequently treat the bilge before disposing it at sea.

NYK originally invented the bilge treatment and disposal system in the second half of the 1980s, and has since continued to improve the system and adopted it as a standard for all NYK ships, in order to reduce maritime pollution.

The group has also co-operated with the Japanese Shipowners Association and the Japan Ship Technology Research Association to contribute to the establishment of national government standards for maritime pollution, especially bilge disposal. NYK's proprietary system for bilge disposal is said to be instrumental in the development of international standards.

In May 2005, NYK set up a JPY50 million (US$418,000) fund to commemorate receiving the Thor Heyerdahl International Maritime Environmental Award. The funds are being used to foster the development of research into maritime environmental protection.

Furthermore, in the summer of 2006, NYK participated in the CO2 Diet Declaration, an energy-saving initiative promoted by Japan's Ministry of the Environment and Tokyo Electric Power Company, to encourage businesses and households to cut emissions of carbon dioxide. Participating NYK Group staff members and their families, around 1,500 individuals worldwide, managed to reduce CO2 emissions by 300 tons.