Shipping

September 2005

Mitsui O.S.K. To Expand Tanker Fleet To 40 Ships By FY2009
Major shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. will by fiscal 2009 strengthen the group's fleet of midsize tankers carrying gasoline, naphtha and other oil products to 40 ships, company sources said. The company, which currently operates 24 tankers jointly with group firm Asahi Tanker Co., forecasts demand for shipping oil products to hold steady in the years to come. It had already decided to raise the number of tankers with about 45,000 deadweight tons to 32 by fiscal 2006 under its medium-term business plan. With a tanker costing about 4 billion yen to build, the latest fleet expansion plan will cost the company another 40 billion yen. The company is also reinforcing its marketing and service systems for the tankers. It stationed an official exclusively in charge of tankers in the U.K. in 2004, while in August it increased the staff at its office in Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas, a hub of oil-related companies in North and Latin America. (The Nikkei Business Daily, September 30, 2005)

Nippon Yusen Upgrades Business Plan To Add More LNG Tankers
Nippon Yusen KK has upwardly revised its plan to expand its fleet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers. The company's initial business plan called for it to either own or have invested in the construction of about 60 such tankers by fiscal 2010. It has now raised that figure to roughly 80-100 tankers. As the U.S. and other countries are expected to dramatically increase their LNG import volumes, foreign tanker transport firms are scrambling to keep pace. By increasing its fleet, Nippon Yusen aims to ship more of the fuel. Because building an LNG tanker is costly, running about 20-30 billion yen each, more shipping companies and LANG development firms are jointly investing in their construction. At present, Nippon Yusen has stakes in 33 LNG tankers. It had planned to raise this number to 60 in fiscal 2010, but the company has already secured more orders than it can ship, and so has upgraded its plan to 80 tankers in fiscal 2010. The firm may raise the number to about 100 tankers around 2010, depending on orders. Worldwide LNG production by 2010 is projected to be 2.8 times the volume seen in 2000. (The Nikkei Business Daily, September 21, 2005)