The Transport Ministry released a report calling for ''comprehensive'' efforts to maintain the international competitiveness of Japan's shipping industry. Cooperation among shipping companies and related businesses, such as shipbuilders, port operators and marine insurance companies, is necessary to maintain the competitiveness of the shipping industry, the ministry said in its
annual white paper on shipping.
Among specific measures, the paper argued that port facilities should be made friendlier to passengers, while the quality of longshoremen's services should be improved by securing enough manpower through the integration of service providers, the ministry said.