"K" Line

DAIO AZALEA, a woodchip carrier owned by an overseas subsidiary of TAIYO NIPPON KISEN CO., LTD. which is the wholly-owned ship managing subsidiary of “K” Line, rescued 2 Italians from STELLA COMETA, a 43-foot catamaran that sank 900 miles east of Boston on May 11. 

STELLA COMETA was on a voyage from New York City to Portugal, but she requested the rescue after suffering a broken mast and was taking on water after hitting a big wave. DAIO AZALEA was 28 miles from the stricken sailboat when the U.S Coast Guard radioed a request to assist at around 5:15pm local time on May 11. DAIO AZALEA rushed to the scene and at around 7:45pm found the abandoned crew members in life rafts. As rescue operations continued in the darkness of night while facing heavy and threatening sea conditions, both of the Italians were finally safely transferred to DAIO AZALEA at around 10:30pm. Once onboard, their health condition was reportedly good and they safely disembarked at Pozzalo port in Italy on May 23.

About DAIO AZALEA :

Ship Management       :  TAIYO NIPPON KISEN CO., LTD.

Captain                            :  Master Sinoy, Ely Cataluna

Flag                                   :  Panama

Crew                                 :  20 Filipinos including the Captain

Gross Tonnage             :  40,330 tons

Type of Vessel              : Woodchip Carrier

For further information please contact:

Toshiaki Takasaki

Manager, Information & Public Relations Team, IR & PR Group

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.  Tel: +81-3-3595-5083　Fax: +81-3-3595-5001

April 11, 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 America East Coast (called the “AWE” Loops).

While CKYH continues to operate five weekly service loops (AWE1-5), AWE-5 service upgrades its vessel capacity with altered calling ports and AWE-2 & AWE-3 add calling at Norfolk and Shanghai, respectively. These changes enhance comprehensive service network between Asia – North America East Coast and offer quality services to customers.

Above changes take effect from end of April 2011 and thereafter calling ports of each service loop will be as follows:

• AWE-1 (4000Teu vessels x 9)

Qingdao – Ningbo – Shanghai – Pusan – New York – Wilmington – Savannah – Pusan – (Qingdao)

• AWE-2 (4500Teu vessels x 9)

Qingdao – Shanghai – Ningbo – Yokohama – Savannah – Norfolk – New York – Boston – (Qingdao

• AWE-3 (4250Teu vessels x 9)

Hong Kong – Yantian – Kaohsiung – Shanghai – Pusan – Savannah – Charleston – Wilmington – (Hong Kong)

• AWE-4 (5500Teu vessels x 9)

Ho Chi Minh – Shekou – Hong Kong – Yantian – Singapore – Halifax – New York – Norfolk – Jacksonville – Savannah – Singapore – (Ho Chi Minh)

• AWE-5 (5500Teu vessels x 9)

Kaohsiung – Hong Kong – Yantian – Ho Chi Minh – Singapore – New York – Norfolk – Boston – Singapore – (Kaohsiung)

For further information, please contact:

Fumiyoshi Sato

Manager, Planning Team, Containerships Strategic Group

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.

Tel: +81-3-3595-5341　Fax: +81-3-3595-5288

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” Line) via its European subsidiary company possesses 50% share of SAL Group in 2007, which engages in heavy lift transportation headquartered in Germany, and 2 executive officers were dispatched from “K” Line to work with the 3 existing partners. “K” Line has reached a basic agreement with joint venture partners on purchasing all (in total 50%) of the shares of SAL Group at the end of June 2011. With this transaction, “K” Line will become 100% owner of SAL Group.

With the current economic rebound, heavy lifter business is considered an essential tool for the development of big projects such as those in the oil and gas industry, which is expected to grow even further. Particularly, 2 most-advanced vessels having the largest lifting capacity in the world of 2,000 tons and equipped with DP (Dynamic Positioning System) were delivered in December 2010 and March 2011. These vessels are equally as suited to service-demanding offshore projects within the oil and gas industry as they are in assisting in the installation of foundations for offshore wind parks. By further building up in this field, “K” Line will create a new synergy with offshore support vessel and drill ship business department.  “K” Line concluded to make this purchase because acquiring 100% share of SAL Group was considered a favorable opportunity for the build-up of Heavy Lifter Business, which, by taking advantage of “K” Line’s extensive worldwide network, will result in a synergy that is in line with “K” Line’s corporate policy to increase the ratio of its non-container business sector. 

After acquiring 100% ownership of SAL, “K” Line expects to keep the trading name of SAL, location of head office and employment of all current staff; especially “K” Line would like current staff to continuously play an important role in SAL. Mr. Lars Rolner, who is one of the existing partners, will remain as CEO after the sale of his share.

The “K” Line group has a firm intention to develop heavy lifter business as a core business of “K” Line with the established trade name of SAL and combining abundant experiences and know-how of management and staff of SAL in heavy lifter business.

SAL Group was founded by the Heinrich Family, its company history going back to 1865 when first vessel SS “Amoenitas” built by Sietas Shipyard in Germany came into the world. SAL has a staff of almost 120 onshore, and about 100 German and 400 Philippines crew members on vessels worldwide. The SAL Group of companies provides a large array of services including sales/project management, vessel operation and ship management engineering and crewing. SAL possesses and operates 16 heavy lift carriers which have lifting capacity of 600~2,000 tons offering 20-knot navigation speed, fastest in the heavy lift industry. And SAL is also the first heavy lift specialist to be certified for HSE (OHASAS18001 and ISO14001), as well as having an environmental passport and meets all highest environmental standards. Its high- spec fleet and highly-skilled officers and crews have an excellent reputation in the market.

For further information please contact:

Makoto Arai

General Manager, IR & PR Group

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.

Tel: +81-3-3595-5189　Fax: +81-3-3595-5001

Toshiaki Takasaki

Manager, Information & Public Relations Team, IR & PR Group

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.

Tel: +81-3-3595-5083　Fax: +81-3-3595-5001

16 March 2011 : 

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (“K” Line) would like to extend its deepest condolences for the victims of the 3-11 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami off the Pacific Coast of Japan.

“K” Line decided to donate JPY50million to Japanese Red Cross Society, and “K” Line and its group companies will establish a fund-raising scheme.

“K” Line is also studying support measures for the area stricken by the disaster as a business organization centering on shipping so that everyone affected can return to normal life conditions as early as possible.

For further information please contact:

Makoto Arai

General Manager, IR & PR Group

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.

Tel: +81-3-3595-5189　Fax: +81-3-3595-5001

Toshiaki Takasaki

Manager, Information & Public Relations Team, IR & PR Group

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.

Tel: +81-3-3595-5083　Fax: +81-3-3595-5001

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)

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.

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

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

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