 | |
 Headquarters inTokyo, Japan | |
Native name | 日本郵船株式会社 |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| TYO:9101 Nikkei 225 Component | |
| Industry | Transportation |
| Founded | September 29, 1885; 140 years ago (1885-09-29) |
| Headquarters | Marunouchi,Chiyoda,Tokyo, Japan |
Key people | Hitoshi Nagasawa (chairman,Director) Takaya Soga (president)[1] |
| Products |
|
| Revenue |  JP¥ 1,829 billion (US$ 16.5 billion) —FY 2019 |
 JP¥ 60.3 billion (US$ 543.4 million) — FY 2019 | |
Number of employees | 35,711 (as of March 31, 2019) |
| Website | nyk.com |
| Footnotes / references [2][3][4][5] | |
TheNippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (日本郵船株式会社,Nippon Yūsenkabushiki kaisha;lit. 'Japan Mail Ship Company'), also known asNYK Line, is a Japaneseshipping company. The company headquarters are located in theMarunouchi area of theChiyoda ward ofTokyo, Japan. It operates a fleet of over 820 ships, which includescontainer ships,tankers, bulk and woodchip carriers,roll-on/roll-off car carriers, reefer vessels,LNG carriers, and cruise ships. It is a member of theOcean Network Express[2] andMitsubishi Group.
The company traces its history back to theTsukumo Shokai shipping company founded by theTosa clan in 1870. In 1875, as the renamedMitsubishi Shokai, the company inaugurated Japan's firstpassenger liner service, with a route fromYokohama toShanghai; in that same year, the company name was changed to Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company. In 1885, a merger withKyodo Unyu Kaisha (founded 1882) led to the adoption of the company's present name.[6]
The merged company had a fleet of 58steamships and expanded its operations rapidly, first to other Asian ports and then worldwide, with a line service toSeattle established in 1896[7] and toLondon in 1899.[6]
The company'sKatori Maru was used byChinese Muslims to travel to Singapore on their way toMakkah for theHajj in 1925. From there, the company had the pilgrims travel on board other Japanese steamships to Suez and then to Makkah. The company promised to take responsibility for all the necessary formalities and helped contact other local transportation agencies that could take the pilgrims to Makkah. Chinese pilgrims were promised a 20% discount for their tickets. A third-class ticket that sold for £5/10/0 would be £4/8/0, while a second-class ticket sold for £14/0/0 would be sold for £11/5/0.[8]
The majority of Japanese merchant ships, tankers, and liners sailed under the NYK banner in this period. Regular services linkedKobe andYokohama with South America,Batavia,Melbourne, andCape Town, with frequent crossings toSan Francisco andSeattle.[citation needed] Other routes connected local Chinesecabotage vessels on the Chinese coasts and upperYangtze River.[citation needed]
Ocean routes went east from Japan toVancouver (Canada) or Seattle.[citation needed] Another way was to stop inHawaii, which continued to San Francisco and thePanama Canal.[citation needed] The next commercial routes were south from Japan, across theEast China Sea.[citation needed] These went to Southeast Asia, the China coasts, and towards India and the Indian Ocean, to Europe or Batavia (Dutch Indies), orAustralia andNew Zealand.[citation needed] The fastest services took 10 days from Yokohama to Seattle, and one month to Europe.[citation needed]
Local sea routes connected 78 home seaports (38 open to foreign trade). Yokohama, Kobe, and Osaka had the greatest importance for trading with Japan. These ports had the third, fourth, and eighth place in net tonnage registered in the world.[citation needed] Coal passed fromMoji to Osaka and Yokohama.[citation needed]Karafuto timber represented a third part of local trade.Soybean products fromDairen andRyojun arrived at Yokohama.[citation needed] Thesugarcane of theSouth Seas Mandate andFormosa, cotton, salt, and minerals represented other important parts of these transport transactions.[citation needed] In 1926, Toyo Kisen Line (TKK), with its fleet of nine ships, merged with NYK. The current funnel livery was introduced in 1929.[citation needed] The company also ran services connecting metropolitan Japan to its exterior provinces (Chosen,Karafuto,Kwantung,Formosa andSouth Mandate) of the Empire.[citation needed]
From 1924, all new cargo ships for NYK weremotor ships.[9] NYK introduced its first passenger motor ships in 1929, but continued to buy a mixture of steam and motor passenger ships until 1939.[10]
In World War II, the NYK Line provided military transport andhospital ships for the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. Many vessels were sunk by theAllied navies, and installations and ports were attacked from the air. Only 37 NYK ships survived the war. The company lost 185 ships in support of military operations in the Pacific.[11] Before the war, NYK had 36 passenger ships;[10] by the time ofJapan's surrender only one, the motor shipHikawa Maru, survived.[12]
NYK's surviving vessels and equipment were confiscated by the Allied authorities asreparations, or taken by recently liberated Asian states in 1945-46.Shipping Control Authority for the Japanese Merchant Marine requisitionedHikawa Maru as a transport ship to repatriate Japanese soldiers and civilians from territories that had been liberated from Japanese occupation.[12]
The NYK tonnage expanded in bursts, responding to changes economic conditions and perceived changes in the market for passenger liner travel. The evolution of the fleet mirrors some of those developments. In the following lists, the dates of maiden voyages are indicated with each ship's name.[13]
Amongst the many ships in the early NYK fleet, some names comprise serial categories.[14] Some ships were named afterShinto shrines, and others were named after ancientprovinces of Japan,cities of Japan,mountains of Japan orislands of Japan. Some ships had explicitly non-Japanese names, such as ships named after cities.[citation needed]
Shinto shrines | Provinces[27][28] | Mountains | Cities | Miscellaneous
|
The modern NYK tonnage encompasses a variety of ship names.[14] Some names form series, as in those ships named afterflowers,stars,star constellations, andprovinces of pre-Meiji Japan.
Flowers | Stars | Constellations | Provinces | Miscellaneous |
By the mid-1950s NYK ships were again seen around the world.
As the demand for passenger ships dwindled in the 1960s, NYK expanded its cargo operation, running Japan's firstcontainer shipHakone Maru on a route toCalifornia in 1968 and soon establishing container ship routes to many other ports. NYK became a partner inNippon Cargo Airlines in 1978,
Following the enactment of the U.S. Shipping Act of 1984, NYK shifted its focus towards mass intermodal transportation, including: (1) enlarged container ships in the trade, (2) NYK owned/operated container terminals at the U.S. West Coast gateways, and (3) participation in US inland transportation by introducing the operation of mile-long Double Stack Trains (two-tier container freight train service across the U.S., in collaboration with U.S. railway companies)."[64]
NYK Line decided to enter the world-wide luxury cruise ship market and established Crystal Cruises Inc. in Los Angeles.
In July 1990 the first post-war cruise passenger ship Crystal Harmony has been completed (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki), and she marked the beginning of services ofCrystal Cruises. (Los Angeles to Alaska and returned to San Francisco)[64]The sister ship of Crystal Harmony, Crystal Symphony (built at Finland: Kvaerner Masa), commenced operation in Mediterranean cruises.[64]The third ship of Crystal Cruises, Crystal Serenity (France: Chantiers de l'Atlantique), commenced operation in Europe.[64]Crystal Harmony was sold from Crystal Cruises toNYK Cruises [ja] and began operation asAsuka II.[64]Crystal Cruises was sold to Genting Hong Kong.[64]
In May 2021 NYK Line became the first Japanese shipping firm to join theSustainable Shipping Initiative'sShip Recycling Transparency Initiative, which incorporates theHong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.[65]
On 19 November 2023, the NYK operated vesselGalaxy Leader, while sailing in Red Sea en route to India, was hijacked by the Iranian backedHouthi on the grounds it was an Israeli owned vessel. In May 2024 the owners asked the Houthis to release the crew.[66]
On Monday, 31 October 2016,Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha,Mitsui OSK Lines and Nippon Yusen Kaisha agreed to merge their container shipping business by establishing a completely new joint venture company. The integration included their overseas terminal activities. The joint venture company operates under the name "Ocean Network Express" (ONE), with the company headquarters in Japan (Tokyo), a global business operations headquarters in Singapore and regional headquarters in United Kingdom (London), United States (Richmond, VA), Hong Kong, and Brazil (São Paulo).[67] The new company started its operations on 1 April 2018.[68]
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| Ship class | Built | Capacity (TEU) | Ships in class | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYK Vega-class | 2006–2007 | 9,012 | 4 | Operated byOcean Network Express |
| NYK Oceanus-class | 2007–2008 | 8,628–9,040 | 4 | Operated byOcean Network Express |
| NYK Adonis-class | 2010–2011 | 9,592 | 3 | Operated byOcean Network Express |
| NYK Bird-class | 2016–2019 | 14,000 | 15 | Operated byOcean Network Express |
NYK is also the world's largestroll-on/roll-off ocean carrier. NYK's RORO fleet has a 660,000 car capacity which represents just over 17% of the global car transportation fleet capacity. Over 123 vessels are deployed worldwide transporting cars[69] manufactured in Japan, US, EU towards Asia, Middle East, North & South America,[70] Australia, Africa and Europe.In addition to brand new cars, High and Heavy cargo (such as excavators, mobile cranes, new and used trucks and buses, trailers,Mafi roll trailers) and break bulk static pieces are carried all over the globe by NYK.
Established 1870 byIwasaki Yataro | ||
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