‫ە‬Messages from Departments and Centers of NILIMAsian economic growth and Japan’s ports
SUZUKI Takeshi,
Director of the Port and Harbor Department
Keywords: Asia, trade trends, international logistics, international ports, Japan’s economic growth
In the 1970s, container ships had a carrying capacity of
about 2,000 TEU; however, in the 1980s, 4,000-TEU
Panamax vessels—the largest vessels capable of passing
through the Panama Canal—made their appearance. In the1990s, “over-Panamax” vessels that are incapable oftraversing the Panama Canal began to be built, with someattaining a capacity of 6,000 TEU. Given the growing sizeof these vessels, construction to expand the Panama Canal isunderway. And looking at the current state of ship
construction, it is anticipated that size of container ships thatply the world’s oceans will suddenly grow even larger in
response to the canal’s expanded capacity. At the sametime, however, there are some shipbuilders that are not
waiting for the canal’s expansion, and thus there areexpectations that container ships capable of carrying some
15,000 TEU—exceeding the canal’s post-construction
capacity—will be seen.
Bulk carriers that transport coal, iron ore, and grain arealso expected to grow larger. One reason for this isexpanding long-distance transport amid rapidly growing
demand for resources by newly developing countries.
Until now, 70,000-ton class Panamax vessels have been themajor mode of grain transport, while 170,000-ton class

1. Asian economic growth and Japan’s ports
During the 10 years from 1999 to 2009, the world’s GDP
expanded by 1.85 times. During this same period, the GDPof North America grew by 1.55 times and that of Western
Europe grew by 1.71 times. In contrast, however, Japan’sGDP grew by only 1.16 times, indicating that Japan’seconomy remained stagnant even as the global economy
grew. On the other hand, Japan’s neighbors, China among
them, expanded their economies significantly during thistime.
They also formulated various strategies leading tobold investments and institutional reforms, and thereby
expanded the influence of their ports. Looking at handledcontainer volume, Japan’s top port in 1980 (Kobe Port)ranked fifth in the world in handled volume; however, by2009, Japan’s top port (Tokyo Port) ranked just 26th.
Conversely, East Asian ports dominate the top positions interms of handled volume, as eight of the top ten ports arelocated in East Asia.
2. Increasing size of international cargo vessels
Container vessels are being built larger and larger in order
to efficiently transport a growing amount of container goods
and to ensure that companies survive in market competition.

[Numberof containers䛾䝁䞁䝔䝘ྲྀᢅಶᩘ䛇
handled by major Asian ports]
䛆䜰䝆䜰୺せ[Worldranking‴ู䝁䞁䝔䝘ྲྀᢅಶᩘ䝷䞁䜻䞁䜾䛇of number of containers handled by port]䛆ୡ⏺䛾(Unit: 10,000 TEU)䠄༢఩䠖୓䠰䠡䠱䠅䠍䠕䠔䠌ᖺ1980Port䚷ྡ㻝㻥㻡㻝㻥㻜㻝㻠㻢㻝㻠㻢㻥㻤㻥㻞㻤㻡㻤㻟㻣㻤㻣㻤㻝㻞

Yokohamaᶓ὾㻣㻞

No. of containers‴ྲྀᢅ㺘㺻㺡㺣ಶᩘ
handled by port
(unit: 10,000 TEU)㸦༢఩㸸୓㹒㹃㹓㸧㻝㻢

Busan㔩ᒣ卫

Hong
㤶KongRotterdam䝻䝑䝔䝹䝎䝮Hong Kong㤶
Kobe⚄ᡞ
Kaohsiung㧗㞝Singapore䝅䞁䜺䝫䞊䝹San Juan䝃䞁䝣䜯䞁Long Beach䝻䞁䜾䝡䞊䝏
Hamburg䝝䞁䝤䝹䜽Oakland䜸䞊䜽䝷䞁䝗

卫




New York/New Jersey䢂䡩䡬䢒䡬䡴㻛䢂䡩䡬䡸䢚䡨䡬䡸䢚䡬卫

Shanghai
ୖᾏ

㻢㻟

2009
(upper number)ᖺ㸦ୖẁ㸧

㻝㻤

Tokyo
ᮾி

Busan
㔩ᒣ

TokyoPortᮾி‴
Osaka Port኱㜰‴

Kaohsiung㧗㞝Singapore㺚㺻㺔㺼㺬㺽㺎㺷

䡡

1980(lower number)ᖺ㸦ୗẁ㸧TEU(twentyͲfootequivalentunit)䠖
TEU(twenty-foot equivalentunit): AnInternational
Organization forᅜ㝿ᶆ‽つ᱁䠄䠥䠯䠫つ᱁䠅䛾Standardization
standard (ISO standard)20䝣䜱䞊䝖䞉䝁䞁䝔䝘䜢䠍䛸䛧䚸unit thatcalculates a 20-foot container as40䝣䜱䞊䝖䞉䝁䞁䝔䝘䜢䠎䛸䛧䛶“1” anda 40-foot container as “2”.
ィ⟬䛩䜛༢఩䚹Handledྲྀᢅ㔞volume

㻝㻞
㻟
㻠
㻡
㻢
㻣
㻤
㻥
㻝㻜

䠎䠌䠌䠕ᖺ㏿ሗ್2009(preliminary values)
Handled
Port

ྲྀᢅ㔞
䚷ྡ
volumeSingapore㻝㻌㻔㻝㻕 䝅䞁䜺䝫䞊䝹㻌㻞㻘㻡㻤㻣Shanghai㻞㻌㻔㻞㻕 ୖᾏ㻞㻘㻡㻜㻜Hong Kong㻟㻌㻔㻟㻕 㤶㻞㻘㻜㻥㻤
Shenzhen㻠㻌㻔㻠㻕 ῝ᆆ㻝㻘㻤㻞㻡Busan㻡㻌㻔㻡㻕 㔩ᒣ㻝㻘㻝㻥㻡Guangzhou㻢㻌㻔㻤㻕 ᗈᕞ㻝㻘㻝㻝㻥Dubai㻣㻌㻔㻢㻕 䝗䝞䜲㻝㻘㻝㻝㻞
Ningbo㻤㻌㻔㻣㻕 ᑀἼ㻝㻘㻜㻡㻜
Qingdao㻥㻌㻔㻝㻜㻕 㟷ᓥ㻝㻘㻜㻞㻢
Rotterdam㻝㻜㻌㻔㻥㻕 䝻䝑䝔䝹䝎䝮㻥㻣㻠* 䈜ᮾி‴䛿ᮾி“Tokyo Port” includes Tokyo䞉ᶓ὾Port䚸and Yokohama Port.
“Osaka Port” includes Osaka Port and Kobe Port.
኱㜰‴䛿኱㜰
䚹 is for 2008.
However,the figure for䞉⚄ᡞ
Osaka Port㻢㻟䡡䡡䡡Tokyo
㻞㻢㻔㻞㻠㻕 ᮾி㻟㻣㻠

Yokohama㻟㻢㻔㻞㻥㻕 ᶓ὾㻞㻤㻜

Nagoya䠉㻔㻟㻥㻕 ྡྂᒇ䈜㻞㻤㻞㻟㻥Osaka኱㜰㻞㻡

Kobe䠉㻔㻠㻠㻕 ⚄ᡞ䈜㻞㻡㻢㻠㻢Nagoyaྡྂᒇ㻞㻝

Osaka䠉㻔㻡㻜㻕 ኱㜰䈜㻞㻞㻠䛯䛰䛧䚸኱㜰‴䛿㻞㻜㻜㻤ᖺ䛾ᩘᏐ䚹㼇ὀ㼉 እෆ㈠䜢ྵ䜐ᩘᏐNote: Figures
include both domestic and overseas trade.
Source: Prepared by the Ports and 䠥䠪䠰䠡䠮䠪䠝䠰䠥䠫䠪䠝䠨
Harbors Bureau, MLIT, basedon Containerisation
InternationalFiguresparenthesis show rank in 2008.
䠄 in䠅ෆ䛿䠎䠌䠌䠔ᖺ䛾㡰఩ฟ඾䠖䠟䠫䠪䠰䠝䠥䠪䠡䠮䠥䠯䠝䠰䠥䠫䠪䠵䠡䠝䠮䠞䠫䠫䠧㻝㻥㻤㻞㻌㻘㻌㻞㻜㻝㻜
Handledvolume figures marked with an asterisk (*)
䈜䛾ྲྀᢅ㔞䛿䠎䠌䠌䠔ᖺ䛾ᩘᏐYearbook
1982and2010
andMarch2010
Containerisation
International㻹㼍㼞㼏㼔㻌㻞㻜㻝㻜㻌䠟䠫䠪䠰䠝䠥䠪䠡䠮䠥䠯䠝䠰䠥䠫䠪 䠥䠪䠰䠡䠮䠪䠝䠰䠥䠫䠪䠝䠨䜢䜒䛸䛻ᅜᅵ஺㏻┬ ‴ᒁసᡂare for 2008.

‫ە‬Messages from Departments and Centers of NILIMCapesize vessels have been the main player in iron ore
transport. However, more and more vessels that are evenlarger than these ships are coming into service. Transport
by 300,000-ton class VLOC (Very Large Ore Carrier) is
beginning between ironworks in China and Brazil. And amajor Brazilian iron ore company is reportedly building a
400,000-ton Chinamax vessel.
3. Response to changing international cargo demand andlarger vessels
Domestically, Japan faces severe economic, financial, andemployment circumstances brought about by its aging
society, declining population, the strong yen, and shifting ofbusinesses
tooverseas
locations.
Moreover,antigovernment protests in the Middle East and Africa fromthe end of last year present the danger of rising petroleum
prices. On the other hand, other Asian countries quickly
bounced back from the Lehman Brothers’ crisis and are now
enjoying strong economic growth.
As other East Asian ports prosper and vessel sizes growlarger, Japan’s ports are falling behind in responding to thelarger vessels and could even lose major container routes asa result. Moreover, companies are leaving Japan in searchof lower production costs and strong foreign demand.
Japan must raise the competitiveness of its ports and, by
doing so, raise its domestic economic competitiveness andlower import costs for consumer goods. At the same time,
it must link Asia’s vitality to revitalization of its domestic
economy. Achieving these goals will require immediate
steps to give ports the ability to handle larger vessels andimprove corresponding services. In light of Japan’s severe
financial situation, it will be necessary to carefully selectports having high potential here and then to pour intensive
investment into them. It is with these objectives in mind
that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport andTourism selected two regions as “international containerstrategic ports” in August 2010. MLIT is also taking steps
toward selecting “international bulk strategic ports.”
1970s:2,100TEU
1970s:2,100TEU

To formulate such practical and highly effective port
policies and then to effectively implement them, it will benecessary to analyze and draw up forecasts concerning how
flow of goods between ports, vessel size and function,
frequency of port calls, and volume of cargo handled byeach port change in response to economic conditions inconcerned countries, barriers to international transport andtrade, fuel costs, the management strategies of shipping
companies, vessel specifications and performance, andconditions surrounding the development of port, land, andmarine infrastructure. Such analyses and forecast mustalso focus on the kinds of facilities and equipment needed torespond to the above-mentioned conditions as well as thesize, structure, and function they must have. Taking thesesteps will require continuous accumulation and analysis ofvarious forms of information, including data on trade,transport, vessels, and port development. Then, survey
research on model theory, survey analysis techniques,
statistical theory, and other fields must take place, followedby the creation of a highly reliable international marine
logistics model capable of evaluating the various elementsthat influence trade and logistics. Moreover, this model
must be constantly upgraded to ensure that it has maximum
practicality. On top of this, survey analyses must takeplace that cover not only results obtained from theinternational marine logistics model but also operation ofvessels, cargo-handling equipment, and storage facilities aswell as structure function, usability, durability, energy
efficiency, and technical development trends. From here, itwill be necessary to establish methods for setting thespecifications, use conditions, and other factors for port
facilities and equipment that will be needed as conditions
require.
As the policy for establishing international container
strategic ports and international bulk strategic ports moves
forward based on the activities described above, the Port andHarbor Department intends to help evaluate various
measures within the policy and to contribute to forecasts andanalyses for the planning and formulation of new measures.

Panamax:70,000Ͳtonclass
Capesize:170,000Ͳtonclass1980s:4,400TEU
1980s:4,400TEU

VLOC:200,000Ͳtonclass1990s:6,400TEU
1990s:6,400TEU

VLOC:300,000Ͳtonclass2000s:14,800TEU
2000s:14,800TEU

Chinamax:400,000Ͳtonclass

0100

200
300400(m)PreparedbasedonDNVmaterials 

Changes in lengths of container ships

0100

200
300400(m)PreparedbasedonValematerials

Changes in the lengths of bulk carriers