‫ە‬Research Trends and Results

Do container ships cruising between East
Asia and North America cruise through theJapan Sea or the Pacific Ocean?
TAKEMURA Shinji, Researcher
Port Planning Division, Port and Harbor DepartmentNumber 㞘of ships
ᩘ

Eastboundᮾ ⯟Port of arrival

฿╔

Korea
㡑ᅜ

2,000

Westbound
す ⯟

2,500

PortฟⓎof departure

Korea
㡑ᅜ

2,000

North
China
୰ᅜ໭㒊

North
China
୰ᅜ໭㒊

SouthChina
୰ᅜ༡㒊

1,500

South
China
୰ᅜ༡㒊

1,500

Taiwanྎ‴

Taiwanྎ‴Japan᪥ᮏJapan᪥ᮏOffshore OsumiPeninsula

Kanmon Strait

Passage㏻⯟ᾏᇦPassage㏻⯟ᾏᇦ

Tsugaru Strait0኱㝮༙ᓥἈ

0㛵㛛ᾏᓙ

500

ὠ㍍ᾏᓙ

500

኱㝮༙ᓥἈ

1,000

㛵㛛ᾏᓙ

1,000

Offshore Osumi
Peninsula

㞘 ᩘ
2,500

Kanmon Strait

Number of ships

ὠ㍍ᾏᓙ


1. Introduction
In recent years, the rapid growth of the Asian
economies has increased the number of container
ships traveling between East Asia and North America.
Japan is located on this shipping route, but thecircumstances governing whether they travel on theJapan Sea side or Pacific Ocean side of Japan have notbeen analyzed. So we combined Lloyd’s ship
movement data with AIS data to analyze the passageof these ships.
2. Analyzed data
Past analysis of the movement of ships has been
done using Lloyd’s ship movement data, but thesedata are ships’ port clearance data, which can notclarify ocean waters where ships cruise. So for thisresearch, we performed analysis combining Lloyd’s
data with AIS data obtained at the Hakodate and Moji
receiving stations. AIS stands for Automatic
Identification System which, since the 9/11 terrorist
incident, all ships above a certain size are obligated tocarry.

3. Analysis of ocean areas used by the shipping
Figure 1 shows the results of analysis of the passage
data for the single year, 2009.
Overall, 3,140 ships traveled eastward and 2,972
ships traveled westward, almost identical quantities
traveling in the two directions, but when the results are
viewed by ocean area cruised by the ships, eastbound,
1/3 used the Tsugaru Strait and 2/3 cruised offshore
from Osumi Peninsula, while westbound, more than
70% of the ships cruised in the water offshore fromOsumi Peninsula. These numbers reflect the fact thatin many cases, container ships stopped at ports on thePacific side of Japan.
4. Change of numbers of ships over time
Assuming that judgment standards for selecting
passage through each ocean area are constant, 1999and 2004 were estimated based on the results obtainedfor 2009. In the Tsugaru Strait (Sea of Japan),eastbound ships have doubled, while westbound ships
have declined in number slightly since 2004.

Tsugaru Strait

Research Trends and Results(Key words) Container ship, North-American shipping route, AIS, Tsugaru Strait, Osumi Peninsula 

Figure 1. Number of Ships by Ocean Area
Numberships
㞘of ᩘWestboundす ⯟Numberships㞘 ofᩘEastbound
ᮾ ⯟

2,500

2,500

2,000

2,000

1,500

1,500

Tsugaru
Straitὠ㍍ᾏᓙ
KanmonStrait㛵㛛ᾏᓙ
Offshore Osumi
Peninsula
኱㝮༙ᓥἈ

1,000

1,000

500

50000㻝㻥㻥㻥

㻞㻜㻜㻠

㻞㻜㻜㻥

㻝㻥㻥㻥

㻞㻜㻜㻠

㻞㻜㻜㻥

Figure 2. Time Series Change (Estimated) of Ship
Numbers
5. Conclusion
These results will be basic materials for the study ofport facilities including ports on the Japan Sea side,
and we wish to continue this analysis.
[References]
NILIM document NO. 610 http://www.nilim.go.jp/