Japanese Shippers Trim Fleets
The three big Japanese marine transport firms - Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Lines), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Kawasaki Kisen - are decreasing the number of containerships and bulk carriers in their fleets by 10%, reports Nikkei.
This is due to weak market conditions and in response to a persistently bleak business environment brought on by a supply glut.
The trio operated 1,266 of the ships in all at the close of the fiscal year ended in March, but that number will fall by 122 ships.
While Mitsui O.S.K. will cut its fleet down to 409 ships by the end of fiscal 2016, or 13% less than a year earlier, Kawasaki Kisen will shrink its fleet to 255 ships by the end of fiscal 2019, a 7% decline from the end of fiscal 2015.
Nippon Yusen will cut its flotilla to 480 ships by the end of fiscal 2018, an 8% reduction from the end of fiscal 2015.
The companies will also focus on operations promising growth. Nippon Yusen is acquiring a stake in EMAS Chiyoda Subsea, a British company engaged in engineering projects for deapsea oil fields.
Mitsui O.S.K. will begin operating the world's largest offshore liquefied natural gas terminal off the coast of Uruguay in 2018. Kawasaki Kisen is pouring resources into transporting railroad cars and construction machinery.
