Japan Coast Guard: Maritime Security Tops Agenda
Maritime Reporter & Engineering News interviews VADM Satoshi NAKAJIMA, Vice Commandant for Operations, Japan Coast Guard, in its March 2016 edition. Please discuss the history of the Japan Coast Guard. Immediately after the end of World War II, maritime security and the safety of ship operations were both deteriorated significantly in waters around Japan. Crime became widespread, while marine navigational aids and other establishments were destroyed. Many sea mines, which threatened ship operations, were planted.
Three in Four Cruise Passengers in the World Will Soon be Chinese
Almost three-quarters of all cruise passengers in the future could be Chinese, according to research by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). The study reveals a potential 83 million cruise passengers in seven source markets within Greater China. This figure is four times the current number of cruise passengers world-wide. Hong Kong, with its connectivity to the Pearl River Delta, Central China and Taiwan by air, high speed rail and land transportation via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, is looking at a cruise potential of 54 million passengers. The study also reveals that the make-up of these passengers is younger and more family-oriented than cruise passengers in traditional source markets such as North America and Europe, where they tend to be older, retired achievers.
Super Typhoon Headed for Japan, Emergency Warnings Issued
Japan's weather agency on Monday issued emergency warnings to urge people in the country's southern islands to take maximum precautions as a super typhoon described as a "once in decades storm" is set to rake the Okinawa island chain with heavy rain and powerful winds. Typhoon Neoguri was already gusting at more than 250 km an hour (150 mph) and may pick up still more power as it moves northwest, growing into an "extremely intense" storm by Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. But it was not expected to be as strong as Typhoon Haiyan, which killed thousands in the Philippines last year. The JMA issued emergency storm and high sea warnings for Japan's small southern island of Miyakojima, some 300 km (188 miles) southwest of Okinawa island, and for a smaller nearby islet.
