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"K" Line

CKYH to Restructure Asia-North Europe Services

2nd March 2011 :   KAWASAKI KISEN KAISHA, LTD. (“K” LINE) as a member of CKYH – the Green Alliance (COSCON, “K” LINE, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping) is pleased to announce the restructuring of its liner services between Asia and North Europe (called the “NE” Loops).

In addition to the existing five loops (the “NE1” through “NE5” loops) a new service called NE6 will be introduced to offer more sailing frequency from major Asian ports to North Europe. This new NE6 service will offer the direct calls at Kwangyang, Pusan, Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Yantian, Felixs­towe, Hamburg, Rotterdam and Singapore.

After the launch of NE6 loop, port coverage of NE5 loop will be adjusted. The new port rotation will be: Shanghai, Ningbo, Kaohsiung, Yantian, Ho Chi Minh, Singa­pore, Algeciras, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Algeciras, Singapore and back to Shanghai.

The new service is scheduled to commence from the beginning of April 2011. We will be offering total six loops of weekly service with rotations detailed below:

  • NE1

Shanghai – Ningbo – Hong Kong – Nansha – Hamburg – Rotterdam – Felixstowe – Singapore – Yantian – (Shanghai) 

  • NE2

Xiamen – Kaohsiung – Yantian – Singapore – Rotterdam – Hamburg – Felixstowe – Antwerp – Jeddah – Singapore – Shekou – Hong Kong – (Xiamen)

  • NE3

Xingang – Dalian – Qingdao – Ningbo – Yantian – Singapore – Rotterdam – Felixs­towe – Hamburg – Antwerp – Nansha – Hong Kong – (Xingang)

  • NE4

Qingdao – Shanghai – Ningbo – Hong Kong – Singapore – Port Said – Rotterdam – Hamburg – Antwerp – Port Said – Singapore – Hong Kong – (Qingdao)

  • NE5

Shanghai – Ningbo – Kaohsiung – Yantian – Ho Chi Minh – Singa­pore – Algeciras – Hamburg – Rotterdam – Le Havre – Algeciras – Singapore – (Shanghai)

  • NE6

Kwangyang – Pusan – Ningbo – Shanghai – Xiamen – Hong Kong – Yantian – Felixstowe – Hamburg – Rotterdam – Singapore – (Kwangyang)

“K” Line : Successful Renewal Audit for Environmental Management System (ISO 14001)

28th February 2011:  The Environmental Management System of “K” Line group was established in 2002 in support of ISO 14001 which is international standard for environment activities; and our EMS has been surveyed by the external auditor “Class NK.”  The year 2011 is the year for renewal survey which is conducted every three years, and we successfully passed the renewal audit and new certificate has been issued by the auditor.

On this occasion, the scope of application was expanded to every branch office of “K” Line (Japan) Ltd. and Tokyo branch office of Taiyo Nippon Kisen Co., Ltd., which are our group companies, and was approved. Expansion of the scope was also carried out in 2010 when “K” Line Ship Management (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. joined our EMS. (*1)

For our environmental activities in ocean transportation service, compliance of international treaties and national or regional regulations is absolutely essential. But such compliance is not enough for environmental protection; therefore, we are striving to develop new type machinery requiring less energy and emitting less CO2, NOx and SOx, et al. These activities are based on our EMS and requiring operation of so-called PDCA cycle (*2) to improve our activities and contribute to environmental protection.

Furthermore, the environmental activities in our office operations are also important issues even though the affection by the operations to the environment may be smaller than ship operation, but we recognize it is impossible to ignore them and are making efforts in our office work to minimize waste, energy consumption, paper, water, etc. One of the procedures to realize our office environmental activities is relocation of our Tokyo office which will move this autumn to “Iino Building” that is now under construction! We believe our operations in the new building will contribute to minimizing environmental load, improving environmental awareness and, of course, improving our ocean shipping services as well.

1)     the scope of application of our EMS

  • Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” Line)

            【Group companies】

  • ”K” Line Ship Management Co., Ltd.
  • Taiyo Nippon Kisen Co., Ltd.
  • Escobal Japan Ltd.
  • “K” Line Ship Management (SINGAPORE) Pte. Ltd.
  • “K” Line (Japan) Ltd.
  • Kawasaki Kinkai Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.

2)    PDCA cycle:Repeating following 4 steps; Plan→Do→Check→Act, and improve the operation continuously.

“K” Line announce New Asia / East Coast of South America Service

23 February 2011 : KAWASAKI KISEN KAISHA, LTD. (“K” LINE) is pleased to announce the launch of a new bi-weekly service from Asia to East Coast of South America (ECSA) with Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Pacific International Lines (PIL). This new service will be in addition to Asia – East Coast of South America (AESA) service currently offered by the four lines. 

Commencing at the end of March, the new service will enhance our current service to the growing South American market with direct coverage to Vitoria, in Brazil, as well as a faster transit time to Rio de Janeiro. 

We will further improve this to a fixed-day weekly service should there be strong support from the market. 

Meanwhile, current AESA service will be expanded to call Pusan from middle of March. We will then be able to offer customers a direct express between Korea and ECSA.

New loop (AESA-2)

70 round days, bi-weekly service

* Type of vessels: 3,000TEUs

* Port Rotation: Ningbo – Shanghai – Shenzhen – Singapore – Port Kelang –

Rio de Janeiro – Santos – Vitoria – Navegantes – Santos – Rio de Janeiro – Singapore-

Hong Kong – Ningbo

Current loop (AESA-1)

77 round days, weekly service

* Type of vessels: 4,250TEUs

* Port Rotation: Pusan – Shanghai – Ningbo – Hong Kong – Shekou – Singapore – Santos – Buenos Aires – Montevideo – Navegantes – Paranagua – Santos – Rio de Janeiro – Singapore – Hong Kong – Pusan

For further information, please contact:

Fumiyoshi Sato

Manager, Planning Team, Containerships Strategic Group

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.

Tel: +81-3-3595-5341 Fax: +81-3-3595-5285

K Line Starts Service for Honolulu

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (K Line) is pleased to start offering a service connecting Asia and Honolulu. K Line will further enhance its service coverage by this inauguration and provide a high quality package to its customers.

The service is offered through slots on an existing Asia-West Coast South America service operated by K Line jointly with MOL and NYK, and its outline is as follows:

Port Rotation: Pusan – Keelung – Ningbo – Shanghai – Nagoya – Yokohama – Honolulu – Manzanillo – Buenaventura – Guayaquil – Manzanillo – Honolulu – Tokyo – (Pusan)

  • Vessel Deployment: 9 x 2000-2100TEU vessel
  • Sailing Frequency: Weekly
  • The First Sailing: MOL SATISFACTION V.1903E
  • Pusan: 2-3 Dec
  • Keelung: 4-5 Dec
  • Ningbo: 5-6 Dec
  • Shanghai: 7-8 Dec
  • Nagoya: 10-11 Dec
  • Yokohama: 11-12 Dec
  • Honolulu: 20-21 Dec

Delivery of Large Size Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) “KL BREVIKFJORD”

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (K Line) is pleased to announce that K LINE OFFSHORE AS (KOAS) took successful delivery of its first large size PSV(1) “KL BREVIKFJORD”, constructed at STX Europe Brevik Yard in Norway on September 24th. KOAS, headquartered in Arendal, Norway is the owner and operator of the vessel, and K Line holds 95% of KOAS shares.

Click image for full-size version

This vessel, which is also the first Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) built by K Line Group, will be chartered for a period of a maximum of eight years to the Brazilian National Oil Company Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), after delivery.

This vessel’s unique features include largest deadweight tons of 5,100 MT with 1,100 m2 cargo deck area and equipped with Dynamic Positioning System (DPS(2)). Also, the vessel features environmentally-friendly specifications, so-called Clean Design, including double-hull structure for fuel oil tanks and equipped with Ballast Water Management System prior to the IMO-BWM (Ballast Water Management Convention) coming into effect.

KOAS is scheduled to deliver two Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessels (AHTS(3)) and three PSVs by July 2011. The company will offer efficient, safe and environmentally-friendly OSV services to its customers in growing offshore oil and gas field development worldwide.

(1) PSV is used for transport of cargo (Fuel, Food, Water, Dry-Bulk, Explosives, etc.) to and from offshore installations.

(2) DPS is designed to maintain a specified position by vessel’s propulsion system such as thrusters.

(3) AHTS is a multiple-purpose tug designed for transport of cargo in addition to anchor handling, towing duties of floating rigs (Jack Ups, Semi Submersibles, etc.) and installation of sub-sea equipment.

Vessel’s Specifications:

  • LOA 94.9 M
  • Beam 20.0 M
  • Depth 8.0 M
  • Speed 15.3 Knots
  • Deadweight Tons 5,100 MT
  • Cargo deck area 1,100 m2
  • Accommodation 25 persons

“K” Line Expands Installation of Latest Heading Control System into Operating Vessels

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd (“K” Line) and Yokogawa Denshikiki Co., Ltd. (YDK) are pleased to announce expansion of the installation of the latest heading control system to “K” Line’s operating vessels due to its effectiveness.

YDK released the new heading control system called BNAAC, Batch Noise Adaptive Autopilot Controller, intended to increase fuel economy. The principal of this system is to update the ship’s parameter all the time by monitoring and reflecting changing meteorological and hydrographic conditions, while the original system just reflected the initial parameter setting.

“K” Line and YDK made the experimental trial of this system using an operating bulk carrier vessel thence successfully reached approximately 1 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions compared with the current system.

While “K” Line has already started to install BNAAC system to newly-built vessels, based on the results of the trial its expansion into operating vessels was decided, and the first vessel to be installed was M/V Becchio Bridge calling at Tokyo bay on September 13th.

Both “K” Line and YDK are jointly challenging preservation and conservation to protect our global environment.