"K" Line

Kawasaki Kisen Group (“K” LINE Group) is pleased to announce that the vessel OCEANIC BREEZE, managed by K MARINE SHIP MANAGEMENT PTE. LTD., our in-house ship management company, received the Director-General Award from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) at “K” LINE’s Tokyo head office on June 3. The award recognizes the vessel’s longstanding contributions to maritime weather observation and reporting, which have greatly advanced the country’s meteorological services.

The JMA presents the Director-General of the Japan Meteorological Agency Award to vessels engaged in maritime weather observation and reporting every June 1,*¹ which is Meteorological Memorial Day.

Maritime weather observation is considered significantly more challenging than land-based observation due to geographical and technical constraints, with a particularly evident lack of observational data in the vast open ocean. In these circumstances, weather reports from vessels are a valuable source of data for meteorological agencies around the world. These reports are not only utilized in the development of weather forecasting models and weather charts in various countries but also contribute to ensuring the safety of maritime traffic, the early detection of extreme weather, and the research and monitoring of global climate change. As mobile observation platforms, ships are indispensable components of the modern meteorological observation network. The continuation of these reporting activities significantly contributes to future weather disaster prevention and environmental conservation efforts.

The “K” LINE Group will continue to contribute to the development of meteorological services in Japan by providing maritime observation data to the JMA.

*1 Meteorological Memorial Day:

The Tokyo Meteorological Observatory, the JMA’s predecessor, began Japan’s first meteorological and seismological observations on June 1, 1875. To commemorate this event, the Central Meteorological Observatory declared June 1 to be Meteorological Memorial Day in 1942. The annual Meteorological Memorial Day ceremony honors individuals and organizations that have significantly contributed to meteorological services. This year marks 150 years since the Tokyo Meteorological Observatory began its observations.

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” LINE) is pleased to announce that it has introduced the operation management platform Veson IMOS Platform (IMOS, provided by Veson Nautical) as part of its digital transformation (DX).

IMOS is an integrated platform that optimizes operation management tasks such as charter contracts, cargo contracts, fuel, and accounting. It is equipped with advanced functionalities that support data utilization and decision-making, helping to optimize operational efficiency by making use of operational data.

“K” LINE has previously been using multiple systems dedicated to specific tasks, such as charter contracts and accounting, but IMOS has now been introduced with the goal of unifying and standardizing work processes. In addition to simply replacing previous systems, the introduction of IMOS will foster the ability to quickly adapt to changes in the business environment, while at the same time allowing “K” LINE to overcome legacy corporate culture and to offer customers more value.

“K” LINE’s Medium-Term Management Plan frames DX as a business foundation that is of key importance to the company’s management strategy, along with safety, vessel quality control, and environmental and technological sophistication. Centering on “K” LINE’s Group-wide DX promotion, the aim is to build a solid business foundation and achieve a sustainable improvement in corporate value by utilizing data and digital technology to address issues related to safety and quality improvements while cutting CO2 emissions.

Standardizing Calculation Methods to advance decarbonisation across the shipping industry

On April 14, the Global Ro-Ro Community (GRC)* including Eastern Car Liner Ltd., Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, Wallenius Wilhelmsen ASA, and ClassNK (hereinafter referred to as the “six members”), announced guidelines for calculating GHG emission intensity for Ro-Ro ships,** such as car carriers, in conjunction with the international non-profit organization Smart Freight Centre (SFC),*** aiming to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the logistics sector. These guidelines introduce a common calculation method, enabling shippers to accurately measure Scope 3**** emissions, and will further promote decarbonization in the shipping industry.

In recent years, interest in carbon emissions (carbon footprint) throughout the lifecycle of products and services has been increasing. But this has not been without challenge, in particular, the accurate measurement of GHG emissions in maritime transport and differences arising in individual calculation methods.

The six members participated in the GRC hosted by SFC and developed a standard model for calculating GHG emissions through open discussions ensuring fairness and transparency with stakeholders involved in Ro-Ro ships (shipping companies, shippers) and third-party verification organizations. The standard model complies with the ISO 14083***** and GLEC (Global Logistics Emissions Council) framework and was announced at the SFC annual event “Smart Freight Week” held in Amsterdam in March. Derived from the standard model presented by GRC, it now features as a set of guidelines on the SFC website. In the future, the SFC plans to collect actual data on environmental performance on a ship-by-ship basis and publish average high-precision emission intensity data for the industry.

Consequently, the initiative provides a cross-industry first step towards decarbonizing global logistics and contributes to promoting measures against global warming.

The guidelines：Deep-sea Ro-Ro Ship Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity Calculation Methods

* Global Ro-Ro Community (GRC) Established in April 2024, the GRC is composed mainly of major Ro-Ro operators, which account for approximately 80% of the world’s automobile transport capacity.

Global Ro-Ro Community

** Ro-Ro Ships Cargo vessels that allow automobiles, trucks, trailers, construction machinery, and agricultural machinery to drive directly onto the ship. This includes car carriers and ferries.

*** Smart Freight Centre (SFC) Based in the Netherlands, SFC is a non-profit organization that operates globally to address climate change in the freight transport sector. It has a track record of developing guidelines for calculating GHG emissions from Ro-Ro ships within Europe.

Smart Freight Centre

**** Scope 3 Indirect GHG-emissions associated with an entire corporate supply chain, including emissions that occur across the supply chain and outside the organization’s direct control, such as raw-material sourcing, product transport, product use, and disposal.

***** ISO 14083 An international standard for the calculation and reporting of GHG emissions, focusing specifically on emissions from freight and passenger transport.

ISO 14083:2023 – Greenhouse gases — Quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions arising from transport chain operations.

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” LINE) is pleased to announce that it has received a visit from  16 students from International Trading Institute, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University (SMU).

Since its establishment in 2000, SMU has produced a large number of human resources to trading industry, including marine transportation, and offers Industry Study Mission, overseas company visit programme, for students specializing in maritime business or global trading. This year, Tokyo was selected as the place to visit, and “K” LINE has decided to cooperate on the programme since Singapore is an important business base for the company.

At the company visit on May 13, 2025, “K” LINE offered a two-hour programme, including a lecture on its business and environmental initiatives followd by a Q&A session, during which the students asked various questions actively. They seemed to be particularly interested in “K” LINE’s environmental initiatives.

“K” LINE will continue to promote understanding of the shipping industry by accepting company visits and cooperate in the development of the next generation.

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” LINE) has released a video on its official website explaining the progress of its medium-term management plan and the results for FY2024. Initially shared on “K” Line With, the Group’s internal video communication platform, the video is now available to a broader audience.

“K”LINE’s latest video on Financial results for FY2024 & Medium-term Management plan Progress

https://www.kline.co.jp/en/corporate/kline_with.html

“K” Line With details the progress of the medium-term management plan on a quarterly basis, providing explanations of the latest earnings forecasts and also focuses on initiatives which consider the three important points of the medium-term management plan, specifically, the business strategy, the functional strategy and the capital policy. By doing so, it communicates the progress in the medium-term management plan to people in the “K” LINE Group and a broad range of other stakeholders.

The first half of the video explains the FY2024 earnings results and FY2025 earnings forecasts.

The latter half of the video details how “K” LINE will be a company that is chosen by customers and partners through continuous efforts to strengthen its functional strategy and achieves a growth strategy capitalizing on low carbon and decarbonization initiatives as opportunities.

“K” LINE has posted the video on its official website in addition to “K” Line With to make outside stakeholders more aware of the Company’s activities. “K” LINE also aims to deepen understanding of the medium-term management plan among business sites on land and sea within the Group, globally promote internal communication and information sharing, encourage a sense of solidarity as a source of the Group’s strength, and reinforce the foundation of its business operations.

(A news release related to “K” Line With)
November 17, 2023: Sharing Information within the Group Using Video Communication Site for Employees “K” Line With
https://www.kline.co.jp/en/news/other/other-20231117.html

Please be advised that “K” LINE Tokyo Head Office published the following press release today. 

Please refer to the attached PDF documents for details.

・Financial Highlights for FY2024

This document is also available on their website both in English and Japanese.

( <https://www.kline.co.jp/en/>)

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” LINE) is pleased to announce that a joint venture company *¹ held naming ceremony for 174,000m3 LNG vessel for QatarEnergy *² at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd on 17 April.  The vessel was named “AL TUWAR” by Ms. Shi Dai, Director and President of China Merchants Group Limited. is derived from the name of a hill in Al Wakrah, a major city in Qatar.

The vessel is the first of a series of 12 LNG vessels that the joint venture companies will build for QatarEnergy.

QatarEnergy is the world’s largest LNG producer and will allocate the newbuilding vessels to transport LNG around the world.

The newbuilding vessel is equipped with X-DF 2.1 iCER *³ which will contribute to reduction of GHG emissions and realize the ease of environmental impact by lower fuel consumption in operation.

In its Medium-Term Management Plan published in May 2022*⁴, “K” LINE has placed LNG business as one of the top priority areas in the future investment. “K” LINE will further expand long-term contracts and accommodate growing energy demands by responding to various customers’ needs.

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” LINE) has decided to provide a monetary donation of 2 million yen through the Japanese Red Cross Society toward relief efforts in the areas damaged by the earthquake that hit the central Myanmar on March 28, 2025.

“K” LINE would express its most sincere sympathy to all those affected by the earthquake and pray for the soonest recovery of the damaged area.

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO: Takenori Igarashi, hereinafter ““K” LINE”) and Kamigumi Co., Ltd. (Head office: Kobe City, Hyogo, President & CEO: Yoshihiro Fukai, hereinafter “Kamigumi”) concluded a share transfer agreement on September 27, 2024, under which “K” LINE would establish a holding company that would become the parent company of “K” LINE LOGISTICS, LTD. (hereinafter “K” LINE LOGISTICS) to which “K” LINE would transfer all of the shares of “K” LINE LOGISTICS held by “K” LINE, and “K” LINE would transfer 47% of the total shares of the holding company to Kamigumi.

“K” LINE today announces that it has transferred 47% of the total shares of the holding company, established on February 14, 2025, in accordance with the details of the agreement, to Kamigumi.

Outline of the Joint Holding Company

Reference

News Release on September 27, 2024:

Notice of the Establishment of a Holding Company of Consolidated Subsidiary of Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” LINE LOGISTICS, LTD.) and the Partial Transfer of the Company’s Shares to Kamigumi Co., Ltd.

https://www.kline.co.jp/en/news/logistics/logistics-20240927.html

News Release on February 14, 2025:

Notice of the Establishment of a Holding Company of Consolidated Subsidiary of Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” LINE LOGISTICS, LTD.) and the Partial Transfer of the Company’s Shares to Kamigumi Co., Ltd. (2)

https://www.kline.co.jp/en/news/logistics/logistics-20250214.html

On April 1, Takenori Igarashi, Representative Executive Officer, President & CEO Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” LINE) made his inaugural speech at its head office.

The environment surrounding us is changing at an unprecedented speed. There is the spread of technologies to reduce our environmental impact and the construction of supply chains for the use of new energy as part of decarbonization; the rapid and widespread advance of digital transformation, which includes the use of generative AI; and efforts not only to address the shortage of human resources in various parts of the world, but also to secure diverse human resources and collaborate across industries.

Recently, in addition to the uncertain outlook for geopolitical risks in places such as the Middle East and Ukraine, since the inauguration of the new presidency in the United States this January, uncertainty over global energy and trade policies has also increased. There are moves to introduce policies that could have a major impact on the speed of the shift toward low-carbon and decarbonization, as well as on the supply chain and transportation demand itself, with the raising of customs tariffs on specific countries and products, and the introduction of port entry fees at US ports for ships operated by Chinese shipping companies and ships built in China. The uncertainty of the current business environment outlook is increasing.

Despite these conditions, the “K” LINE Group, under the leadership of former President Yukikazu Myochin, has been steadily advancing a five-year medium-term management plan announced in May 2022, and is bolstering the earnings base of its own businesses, centered on three businesses that will drive growth, by viewing changes such as decarbonization as business opportunities.

In the Coal & Iron Ore Carrier Business, we are working to further strengthen the relationships we have cultivated with customers in Japan, South Korea and China by leveraging customer-oriented and environmental sales. At the same time, we are also working to strengthen relationships with customers in the Indian and Middle Eastern markets, and with major resources companies.

In the Car Carrier Business, we are strengthening our earnings base in a way that meets the needs of our customers by reorganizing our route network, introducing environmentally friendly vessels that achieve low carbon emissions, and increasing the volume of High & Heavy cargo.

In the LNG Carrier Business, in addition to the existing markets of Japan, South Korea, China, and Europe, we are stepping up our efforts in new markets such as Southeast Asia and India, and are on track to expand from our current fleet size of 46 vessels to 65 vessels by fiscal 2026.

Our new business initiatives are also progressing smoothly. The Northern Lights Project in Norway for liquefied CO2 transportation will enter full-scale operation this year, with ship management due to begin for three vessels. In offshore wind power generation support, a Japanese geological survey ship was launched in September of last year, and business development has begun.

We are also working to further strengthen the three functions that form the basis of our strengths (Safety and Ship Quality Management, Advancement of Environmental Technologies, and Digital Transformation), and the human resources and organization that support them. In Safety and Ship Quality Management, we will continue to enhance our safe operation and management system, strengthen our ship management system, and secure and train excellent seafarers to further promote “K” LINE’s top priority of safety in navigation and cargo operations.

In Advancement of Environmental Technologies, we will further integrate our environmental response and technology evolution efforts into a unified strategy, and seek to expand growth opportunities for “K” LINE and society as a whole through low carbon and decarbonization.

In Digital Transformation (DX), we plan to expand and enhance our digital infrastructure by driving DX of data and DX of human resources as defined in our DX Strategy, and to create added value for customers by strengthening our own competitiveness through furthering the digitalization of our own operations and vessels.

I believe that further refining these strengths will support our business in this rapidly changing business environment.

As a logistics company rooted in the shipping industry, “K” LINE’s corporate philosophy is to help make the lives of people more affluent. Working under this philosophy, we operate as a partner that is trusted by all stakeholders, supporting the infrastructure of global society by providing safe, high-quality, optimal services that meet the needs of customers by making thoroughly considered proposals.

For our group to continue achieving sustainable growth in a business environment that is changing at such a dizzying pace, in addition to responding with agility to these changes, we must have the courage and passion to act without fear of change, together with the “animal spirit” needed to boldly take on challenges while calmly assessing risks and opportunities in our corporate activities. Personally, I hope to continue to maintain this attitude, and that everyone in the group will be able to work mindfully toward this. In addition, let’s work to improve the value we provide to all stakeholders and aim to become an even more attractive company.

Finally, I would like to end this message by wishing good health to all of you working within the “K” LINE Group, and to your families.