seafarers has fallen to about 2,300 after peaking at about 57,000. In the concerns over stable marine transportation loom as coastal ship seafarers continues to get aged at a rapid pace (about 50% of the entire seafarers are 50 years old or more), with the result of a resultant dominant shortage of successors to them.

For this reason, the MLIT works to secure Japanese seafarers to get aboard oceangoing vessels through steady implementation, etc. of the Japanese-flagged vessels and Japanese Seafarers Securing Plan.

As Asian seafarers account for a greater proportion of the total seafarers aboard Japanese merchant fleet, training aimed at improving the skills of mariner’s instructors in the developing nations has been conducted to help secure and foster more capable Asian seafarers.

As for domestic ship seafarers, the MLIT is committed to extending support to those operators who employ seafarers on a planned basis, holding job fairs for new graduates and so on. It will also work to secure and foster young seafarers, as by making upgrades, etc. to the new Sixth Class Marine Technician training course to encourage those who have not graduated a professional educational institution to find employment as domestic ship seafarers. In addition to these efforts to secure and foster seafarers, continued efforts will be directed at promoting On-board Occupational Health and Safety Management System and Work Improvement on Board (WIB), a continual approach to reducing seafarers' accidents to add to the vocational charms of the job of being a seafarer.

The I.A.I. Marine Technical Education Agency (MTEA) and the National Institute for Sea Training (NIST) are the seafarers training institutions over which the MLIT hold jurisdiction. The MTEA not only provides the basic knowledge and skill required for a ship operating officer but also implements reeducation to meet shipping industry's requests or to catch up with technological innovations. The NIST provides unified on-board practical training on students at the MTEA and mercantile marine colleges and technical colleges using five training vessels. The NIST conducts on-board training that is based on coastal shipping operations using the “Taisei-maru”, a coastal training ship commissioned into service in April 2014. With the implementation of such measures, the institutions enhance the development of younger seafarers who are capable of service off hand both effectively and efficiently.

### c. Disseminating Maritime Thought Note

For the growth of maritime industry, it is essential for people to understand and be interested in maritime industry.

The MLIT is making efforts of maritime publicity activities, such as sponsoring Sea-Festa (held in Kyoto in 2014) and commending those who have been instrumental in helping Japan to grow into a maritime nation (Prime Minister’s Commendation).

## (2) Marine transportation industry

### a. International shipping

The volume of cargo movement on ocean in the world for 2013 stood at 9.91 billion tons (up 3.7% from its year earlier level) with Japan’s volume of seaborne trade for the same year at 0.97 billion tons (up 1.4% from its year earlier level).

International shipping in FY2013 showed signs of general recovery in the business environment on the support of business pickups mainly in the U.S., despite continuing harsh conditions, such as decelerating economic booms in the emerging nations, sluggish European economies and continually high bunker oil prices.

### b. Domestic passenger shipping business

The domestic passenger shipping business plays a significant role as a means of regional transportation. Ferryboat transportation, in particular, has become an integral part of the nationwide network of physical distribution as a recipient of modal shifts. In the meantime, the domestic passenger shipping business needs to boost its competitiveness or toughen its structure, as by pushing further automation to cut costs, to break through a variety of confronting challenges, such as declining demand for transportation with changes in the demographic structure and soaring fuel prices.

Accordingly, a variety of support measures have been advanced in collaboration with local governments or operators, including making ships more energy-efficient through the utilization of co-owner ship construction institution of the