CONTENT BY THE WORLDFOLIO

The world’s largest grab
dredger “Gosho”

Kojimagumi: Laying the ground for new collaboration
With over 100 years of experience in dredging and land reclamation, construction engineering company Kojimagumi
is uniquely placed to meet Japan’s infrastructure needs and help re-evaluate the country’s approach to urban andharbor planning.
Almost 60 years on from the construction boom of the 1960s, Japan ﬁnds itself caught between theneed to maintain existing buildings
and lay foundations for new ones.
Factors such as population decline
and the country’s susceptibility tonatural disasters make the balanceeven harder to strike. Despite providing high-quality construction,
Japanese companies are losing
out to foreign competitors who
can operate more decisively andat lower costs.
As Tokuaki Kojima, chairman of
inﬂuential construction engineering company Kojimagumi, knows
only too well, improving safety
across Japanese territories is also
about challenging false perceptions: “In land reclamation, it isvery important for us to co-exist
with the ocean and the key here
is understanding. We worked withDEME, a Belgian company, on twoprojects in Singapore. They told
us that it took them 20 years
to get the message across that
their projects are not destroying
the environment and that in fact
they create more sustainable environments. It is crucial for thatmessage to get across: we are notdredging and moving sludge toharm the environment but, rather,
we are helping the environment
through our work. Dredging is
crucial to safeguarding humanas well as marine lives.”
Kojimagumi’s work, a largepart of which is carried out incoastal environments, is es-

sential in preventing disasterssuch as ﬂooding and in helping
restore ports following strong
weather events. The company’s
grab dredger vessels are bothmore economical and more efﬁcient than those of countries
such as the U.S.A., with theSoutheast Asian markets, targeting countries with budgets forharbor and port construction.
As Mr. Kojima is keen to point
out, however, operating on aglobal level requires more thanjust a strategy. Commercial
success is about collaboration:“I believe that thesuccessful attainmentof the U.N. Sustainable
Development Goals
depends on creating
partnerships between
companies that havethe same objective inrealizing these goals.”
Clockwise from top left: “Gosho”; Disaster-prevention bucket;
Project in Singapore; Hybrid grab dredger “381 Ryoseimaru”
hybrid 381 Ryoseimaru able togenerate electricity as it operates. And while Japanese construction ﬁrms have been slow toembrace digital transformation,
Kojimagumi’s grab dredging vessels have autonomous operating
capabilities, a fact that could
prove crucial as the company
looks to the future.
With projects recently completed in South Africa, Cameroon
and Singapore, the next step isto move into the East Asian and“Building trust with customers is
a very important factor in business. The first time we wentoverseas, we worked with China
Harbor and established a good
relationship with their employees. If you communicate well, you
can understand each other. The
relationship we built led to theproject’s success, and the sameis true for the Belgian company
we worked with. We were able
to gain their trust by providing
what they needed even before

Tokuaki Kojima,Chairman,Kojimagumi Co., Ltd.
they asked us. We have been able
to come this far thanks to thesekinds of relationships. When wetalk about creating world peace,
I believe that communication is
key and that it leads to a muchbetter society. I do not consider
myself a ‘smart’ guy, and thisis why I follow my heart. It is
important to trust others.”

kk-kojimagumi.co.jp/english