Nagasaki News

The Australian government and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) have concluded a contract for the construction of three upgraded Mogami-class frigates for Australia's General Purpose Frigate (GPF) program.In August 2025, the Australian government selected MHI's upgraded Mogami-class frigate (4,800 ton type) as the preferred platform to proceed to the next stage in the selection process for the country's GPF program.Construction will begin at MHI's Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works in cooperation with the Australian government…

Long-distance ferry routes form a key part of Japan’s national transport infrastructure, connecting the archipelago’s four major islands and littoral centers of population, commerce and industry.RoRo passenger (RoPax) ferry fleet renewal and development has been a constant process over the past two decades in particular, driven largely by freight demand in combination with the pursuit of cost efficiencies and in response to new legislative edicts and rising customer expectations.

Chinese cruise operators are scrambling to avoid Japanese ports as Beijing and Tokyo engage in a diplomatic dispute, which is expected to spur demand for tourism in South Korea, according to sources and cruise schedules reviewed by Reuters.Tour and port agents said tensions, sparked by recent remarks from Japan's new prime minister, could cause Chinese tourists to be redirected to South Korea from Japan. Earlier this month, Sanae Takaichi told Japanese lawmakers that a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan's survival could trigger a military response.Adora Magic City…

It was at an 18th century Georgian manor house outside London that Japanese lawmaker Rui Matsukawa began to have serious doubts about America’s commitment to defending her country.Matsukawa, a former deputy defense minister, traveled in March to historic Fordham Abbey for a top-level bilateral conference. At the estate, now home to a Japanese-owned sake brewery, she said she learned from British lawmakers, diplomats and business leaders that a tectonic shift in their thinking was underway.U.S. President Donald Trump was openly berating America’s European allies and tilting toward Russia.

To commemorate the history of Hong Kong – Macau sailings, Aero Editor launched a book “Hong Kong - Macau High-Speed Ferries” (Traditional Chinese) last year. This book introduces the history, development and current status of sea travel between Hong Kong and Macau, especially the stories of the legendary Jetfoil fleetOn April 25, 1975, Jetfoil MADEIRA of Far East Hydrofoil Co. Ltd. (now TurboJET) set sail from Hong Kong to Macau, setting a new benchmark for the upcoming 50 years of sea travel between the cities with stability borrowed from airplane technology…

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has launched the Mitsui Ocean Fuji cruise ship, owned by MOL Group company MOL Cruises.The 32,477-ton Mitsui Ocean Fuji, the first cruise ship in Japan with all suite cabins, will offer a total of five debut cruise packages and one New Year's cruise through January 2025.In addition to cruises to and from Yokohama, it also offers cruises to andfrom Kobe and Nagoya, and cruise to and from Beppu, Shimonoseki, Shingu, Kochi, Nagoya, Sakaide, Kobe, Matsuyama…

Japan's industry and land ministries on Wednesday picked three consortia, including one featuring Germany's RWE and its partners, to operate offshore wind farms in the second round of a public auction. They said they would award a fourth wind farm that was part of the tender at a later date.The results of the second major round under a new law to promote wind power were closely watched by energy companies at home and abroad, after the first round was dominated by Mitsubishi Corp.Japan's…

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding has announced that it is currently developing the Mitsubishi Ammonia Supply and Safety System (MAmmoSS®), an ammonia handling system to support the utilization of ammonia as marine fuel.As part of this development project, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding has begun demonstration testing of the Ammonia Gas Abatement System (AGAS), a subsystem of MAmmoSS to safely treat surplus ammonia.Using the AGAS demonstration facility at the Nagasaki District MHI Research & Innovation Center…

Two people died and nine were missing after a cargo ship sank off southwestern Japan early on Wednesday amid fierce winter winds, the coast guard said, as it continued to search for survivors.Six people who were rescued remained unconscious, while five had revived as of 8:30 p.m. local time (1130 GMT), the Japan Coast Guard said, partly citing information from its South Korean counterpart.The 6,651-tonne Hong Kong-registered Jintian - which had 22 crew on board who were Chinese or Myanmar nationals according to media reports - issued a distress call late on Tuesday…

Maersk Training and Nagasaki Marine Industry Cluster Promotion Association (NaMICPA) have signed a consultancy agreement, in which Maersk Training provides support to NaMICPA, establishing a training center in Nagasaki, Japan. The preparations for the training center in Nagasaki are funded by the Nippon Foundation. The collaboration is the next step in securing NaMICPA as the region’s leader in Basic Safety Training and Basic Technical Training programs certified by the Global Wind Organisation (GWO)…

A new wood-chip carrier for the Hokuetsu Corporation was delivered on March 2 at Oshima Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Saikai city, Nagasaki, Japan. NYK and Hokuetsu have a long-term contract for this vessel.Dubbed Southern Ace, the vessel will transport wood chips made from logs that have been confirmed to have been legally obtained through sustainable plantations in the Southern Hemisphere and the ship will continue serve the company in the tradition of wood-chip carrier HOKUETSU…

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co. and Shin Nihonkai Ferry Co., have successfully applied for grant aid under the "Joint Technological Development Program for the Demonstration of Unmanned Ships" sponsored by The Nippon Foundation.Funding in hand, the companies will co-develop underlying technologies and systems to enable unmanned ship navigation in the future, with the tangible results of the project being a prototype system installed on a vessel to be operated by Shin Nihonkai Ferry…

The Costa Atlantica cruise ship, which docked in southern Japan with over 100 crew members testing positive for COVID-19, has left the country and is en route to the Philippines, local government officials said on Monday.The ship departed Nagasaki on Sunday over a month after it became the second virus-stricken cruise ship to dock in Japan. Lax control on the movement of crew whilst docked highlighted Japan’s patchy response to the pandemic.The 86,000 tonne Costa Atlantica docked for maintenance in late April carrying no passengers and 623 crew, most of whom were eventually quarantined inside the ship after 149 tested positive.Six remain hospitalised in a non-life-threatening condition…

Seven days before Japan quarantined a cruise ship near Tokyo early this year, in what became one of the first coronavirus hot spots outside China, another cruise ship docked in southern Japan.For the next five weeks, as the virus took hold in Japan and the Diamond Princess in Yokohama port grabbed global attention, the Japanese authorities issued no warnings to the Costa Atlantica 1,200 km (750 miles) to the southwest.Passengers from the Yokohama ship were dying while people from the other vessel freely got on and off…

As many as 91 crew of an Italian cruise ship docked in the Japanese port of Nagasaki are infected with coronavirus, officials said on Friday, as questions persist over how they might return to their home countries.Authorities have tested about half the vessel’s crew of 623 and are racing to screen the rest. Those who test negative will be repatriated, the government said.The vessel, the Costa Atlantica, was taken into a shipyard in Nagasaki in February for repairs and maintenance after the pandemic prevented its scheduled repairs in China.Earlier this year, more than 700 of its passengers and crew tested positive for the virus on the Diamond Princess cruise liner as it was docked in Yokohama.Nagasaki authorities quarantined the Costa Atlantica on arrival in Japan…

Nearly 50 crew members on an Italian cruise ship docked for repairs in Japan's Nagasaki have tested positive for the new coronavirus, raising concern about the strain on the city's hospitals if conditions worsen for those infected. Results on Thursday showed 14 more aboard, all either cooks or those serving food, were infected with the virus, an official in Nagasaki prefecture said. One patient who had been taken to hospital previously was now in serious condition and on a ventilator, he told a live-streamed news conference.

More than 30 crew members on an Italian cruise ship docked for repairs in Japan's Nagasaki prefecture have tested positive for the new coronavirus, raising concern about the impact on the local community.The cluster of infections found on board the Costa Atlantica follows the case of the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama two months ago, where more than 700 were found to be infected, although this time only crew members were on board.The Costa Cruises-operated ship was taken into a shipyard in Nagasaki city…

Domestic and international lenders are vying for a slice of Japan’s nascent offshore wind power sector, which is expected to provide as much as ¥3trn (US$29bn) in project financing opportunities, albeit at very low margins.Akita Offshore Wind completed the nation’s first fundraising for a major offshore wind project last month, raising ¥80bn to build wind turbines near two ports in western Japan.Auctions for sites off Japan's shores are due to kick off in April, and lenders are…

A World War II era submarine sunk during a Cold War training exercise off the shores of Hawaii more than six decades ago has been discovered by a team of ocean explorers utilizing pioneering robotics and methods at the forefront of today's underwater technology.USS Stickleback (SS 415), lost in nearly 11,000 feet of water 62 years ago, was discovered by veteran ocean explorer and Tiburon Subsea CEO Tim Taylor and his "Lost 52 Project" team equipped with a combination of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV)…

Japanese shipping giant Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) Group has provided support to a project being conducted by maritime volunteers in the town of Pembroke, which is south of Wales, to return ginkgo saplings linked to Admiral Togo, one of Japan’s greatest naval heroes.Yusen Logistics Co. Ltd. has provided free transport from Britain, and a ceremony for receiving the saplings was held at the Hiroshima Botanical Garden in Japan on December 24.In the 1870s, the Japanese government donated the ginkgo tree to Britain, where Togo was furthering his naval studies, and the tree was planted in the yard of his dormitory. The tree has always been locally known to be linked to Togo…

According to a report in JIJI Press, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries  is considering selling one of its largest shipbuilding plants in Japan to reduce costs.According to the report , the Japanese conglomerate is weighing the sale of the Koyagi plant in the southwestern city of Nagasaki to Oshima Shipbuilding Co., the third biggest shipbuilder in the country.With the sale, Mitsubishi Heavy would effectively withdraw from construction of large vessels carrying resources such as liquefied natural gas. The Koyagi plant, founded in 1972, stopped building liquefied natural gas vessels in September this year and now focuses on LPG ships.Nikkei reported that while shipbuilders in South Korea and China make moves to realign…

Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has announced that the new scrubber-equipped wood chip carrier Southern Treasure has been delivered.The delivery ceremony for the 60,300 dwt vessel with with a cargo capacity of 4.3 million-cubic feet was held at Oshima Shipbuilding, Nagasaki Prefecture.MOL will operate the vessel, which transport wood chips for Hokuetsu Corporation, said a press release."The vessel is equipped with a SOx scrubber and Ballast Water Management System (BWMS) to comply with today's stricter environmental regulations," said the release.It features Oshima Shipbuilding's technologies such as Seaworthy Bow (a bow shape that reduces the decline in vessel speed during adverse weather)…

New York City-based privately-held, family-run shipping company announced that it has taken delivery of a new 85,004 metric tons deadweight post-Panamax bulk carrier, the M/V Ting May. American dry bulk shipping company informed that the ship builds upon Foremost Group's tradition of operating a fleet of modern, environmentally-friendly ships built to the company's stringent specifications.This newest Eco-friendly post-Panamax ship will be immediately put in service for Bunge Limited, the ship’s charterer, which will deploy the ship to transport its dry-bulk cargoes to ports around the world according to its requirements.Consistent with industry practice in which the overwhelming majority of dry bulk ships are built in Asia…