May 20, 2015
“K” Line has signed contract with VANTEC HTS FORWARDING, LTD. (Hitachi Transport System Group), to transport Hitachi rail cars for IEP (Intercity Express Programme) that are being manufactured at Hitachi’s Kasado plant.
These IEP rail cars will be loaded onto new “K” Line vessels from the Port of Tokuyama-Kudamatsu, located near Hitachi’s Kasado plant, and will be discharged at the nearest port on the east coast of UK to Newton Aycliffe, where Hitachi is constructing the train plant for these rail cars.
A series of “K” Line’s 7500-unit size RORO vessels are now under construction in Japan. Some of these vessels will be deployed into Japan – Europe trade, and will serve for this transportation project from July onward for several years.
A total of 10 vessels of this series of 7500-unit size have been ordered with state-of-the-art design. The first vessel will be rolled out in July 2015. These new vessels will give us increased car-carrying capacity of 20% as well as much more space for High & Heavy cargo, including Construction Machinery. With these newly-designed vessels, “K” Line will continue to proactively increase the handling of railway infrastructure as exports of these cargo from Japan are expected to increase from now on.
In addition, with these new state-of-the-art vessels, we will be better prepared to minimize the impact on Global Environment by accomplishing safe navigation.