Kawasaki Heavy Plant Raided for Ship Engine Tampering
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The Japan Times reported that the country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism raided a plant operated by Kawasaki Heavy Industries after the company admitted to misconduct that involved two-stroke diesel engines used in commercial marine vessels.
The day before the raid, Kawasaki Heavy released a notice that revealed wrongdoing in nitrogen oxide emissions verification tests for its ship engines. The notice stemmed from an internal investigation that found data had been altered for 673 two-stroke diesel engines manufactured from 2000 onward.
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Kawasaki Heavy’s investigation determined that the company had manipulated testing equipment to alter shop trial fuel consumption rates. These actions made sure the figures met the permissible range of customer specifications and minimized data inconsistencies.
The company now plans to investigate if the engines’ emissions actually exceeded regulatory limits and if any engines made before 2000 were affected.
According to the Japan Times, the transport ministry recently encouraged ship engine manufacturers to investigate potential tampering after subsidiaries and units of Japanese corporations IHI and Hitachi Zosen were found to have falsified fuel economy data.
IHI’s probe showed that its subsidiary’s tampering impacted 4,918 engines since 2003. The company also identified 1,913 engines from 1974 and 2002 with altered data.
In response to the issue, Kawasaki Heavy announced the establishment of the Special Compliance Promotion Committee, which will investigate the situation and analyze the cause.
The committee will also look into a Kawasaki Heavy tax investigation that disclosed fraudulent transactions within the company.
The Japan News reported that this included Kawasaki Heavy providing the Japanese Navy with items that were purchased with funds from fake transactions. These items reportedly included beer coupons, game consoles, household goods and repair tools.
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