Ehime Prefecture News

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL)  announced that 20,000 TEU containership, MOL Truth(Note), one of the world's largest containerships, has received the "Ship of the Year 2017" award from the Japan Society of Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers (JASNAOE). The award is given for the highest levels of technology, design, and social responsibility among vessels made in Japan by JASNAOE. The MOL Truth earned high evaluations as a cutting-edge "eco ship" that not only exemplifies MOL's safe operation and environmental conservation policies, but also makes full use of the most advanced telecommunication and IoT/AI technologies. In addition, the judges regarded her as a historic milestone in Japan's shipbuilding industry because Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL)  announced that one of world's largest containerships, the MOL Truth, was delivered at the Saijo Shipyard of Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (President: Yukito Higaki, Headquarters: Imabari-shi, Ehime Prefecture) on October 31. The MOL Truth is the first containership with a capacity of over 20,000 TEU built in Japan, and the fifth in a series of six 20,000 TEU containerships that are operated by MOL. On October 25, it was named the MOL Truth. The new containership is 400m long, with a breadth of 58.5m, and has a loading capacity of 20,182 TEU. It will ply the Asia-Northern Europe trade as part of THE Alliance.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will provide a total of $28.3 million in syndicated loans with French bank BNP Paribas to help a major Danish shipping operator’s unit buy cargo vessels to be built by leading Japanese shipbuilder Imabari Shipbuilding, Jiji Press  reported. The state-owned JBIC aims to revive the domestic regional economies relying on the shipbuilding industry by giving financial support for vessel exports at a time when the industry faces a global slump due to oversupply, the report quoted informed sources as saying. According to the report, under the export deal brokered by Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co.…

Over three times in July, NYK hosted safety promotion conferences for shipowners and ship-management companies at the NYK head office in Tokyo and at Imabari city in Ehime prefecture. These conferences are held every year in two months from July, as part of the “Remember Naka-no- Se” safety campaign, which draws on the lessons learnt by the Diamond Grace oil spill in July 1997 to encourage all NYK Group employees to bear in mind the importance of safe operations. This year, a total of 177 participants from 82 companies gathered at the conferences. Under the slogan "Brush Up on Safety Awareness,” participants reconsidered how to improve safety by enhancing crew member awareness of onboard dangers, and exchanged ideas to prevent the recurrence of accidents and troubles.

Over three dates in July, NYK hosted a safety promotion conference for shipowners and ship-management companies at the NYK head office in Tokyo and at Imabari city in Ehime prefecture. This conference is held every year as part of the “Remember Naka-no-Se” safety campaign, which draws on the lessons learnt by the Diamond Grace oil spill in July 1997 to encourage all NYK Group employees to bear in mind the importance of safe operations. This year, a total of 180 participants from 79 companies gathered at the conference. Under the slogan "Think, Act and Be Safe,” participants reviewed actual collisions and incidents of engine trouble to prevent any recurrence.

Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. finished building an 82,000-mt D/W type bulk carrier Ultra Lion on January 7, 2015, marking the completion of the builder’s 200th Kamsarmax model vessel. Built by Tsuneishi Group Shipbuilding, Inc. at Zhoushan City in the Zhejiang Province of China, the Ultra Lionwill be delivered to buyer KambaraKisen Co., Ltd. The first Kamsarmax bulk carrier was completed in February of 2005. After 9 years, 11 months and 200 ships, the Kamsarmax vessels account for the top share of more than 28% of all the 80…

NYK says it has hosted a safety promotion conference for shipowners and ship-management companies at the NYK head office in Tokyo and at Imabari city in Ehime prefecture. This conference is held during July and August every year as part of the Remember Naka-no-Se safety campaign,which draws on the lessons learnt by the Diamond Grace oil spill in July 1997 to encourage all NYK Group employees to bear in mind the importance of safe operations. A total of 147 participants from 69 companies gathered at the conference to discuss the slow-steaming of vessels, in addition to international rules such as the ballast water management convention.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and Hakata Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., of Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, have agreed to collaborate in the joint development of a 1,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) container carrier. The two companies have received the first order for the carrier, for two vessels to be used for time chartering by Korea Marine Transport Co., Ltd. (KMTC) of Korea. Going forward the two companies intend to establish a framework advantageous for competing in the international feeder container ship market as a way of expanding their businesses. Under the collaborative agreement, MHI will be responsible for hull form development and conceptual design of the container carrier…

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) signed an agreement with Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, Japan, under which MHI licenses production and marketing of deck machinery. Through licensing, MHI aims to expand market share of deck machinery based on the company's technology and, at the same time, respond to requests from Imabari, which looks to enhance business through deck machinery production. The production of licensed machinery is scheduled to be started in April 2013.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President: Koichi Muto) today announced the first use of a new silicon-based anti-fouling paint for a 38,000-class bulker now under construction at the Minaminippon Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. Shitanoe Works (Usuki-shi, Oita Prefecture). When completed, the new vessel will sail under a long-term charter with Doun Kisen Co., Ltd. (Namikata-cho, Ehime Prefecture). This new fluoropolymer foul release (*1) coating, called “Intersleek900,” was developed by International Paint Ltd.

Minaminippon Shipbuilding Co. said Thursday it will open by April 2008 a shipyard able to build 100,000-ton tankers on land to be purchased in Oita Prefecture's waterfront industrial belt. The Oita Prefecture builder of tankers and auto carriers will also build a repair dock at the new facility and expand an existing shipyard elsewhere in Oita in view of growing shipping activity worldwide, company officials said, adding it will spend 14 billion yen on the capital investment. It will be the first shipyard built in Japan since 2000, when Imabari Shipbuilding Co. completed a major facility in Ehime Prefecture. Minaminippon's project is set to raise the company's output to eight vessels per year by fiscal 2011 through March 2012 from the current five.

Japanese officials on Friday were disappointed after U.S. naval officers failed to shed light on whether the captain of a submarine that sank a Japanese fishing trawler, leaving nine lost at sea, would be court martialed. A team of U.S. naval officers visited local officials and families of the nine people, including four teenage fisheries students, lost after the USS Greeneville surfaced into and sank the Ehime Maru off Hawaii on February 9. The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet is prepared to order the captain and a key enlisted man to undergo disciplinary hearings but not courts-martial for their roles in the accident, a navy official in Honolulu said on Thursday.