deployment and so on and to establishing a system of marine transportation on new routes of energy transportation will also be impelled. Specifically, the Ministry plots to broaden the sphere of business activity in the fields of marine development by supporting the launches of marine resources development projects that may take advantage of Japan's strengths, such as offshore logistics hubs $ {}^{Note 1} $ , and the development of marine resources development technologies and encouraging research studies for the formulatino of safety requirements for floating liquefied natural gas facilities (FLNG) and also to maintain technologies for proceeding with marine development activity within Japan's EEZ in the future. For floating offshore wind power generation facilities, safety guidelines have been compiled.

The Ministry has also embarked on deals to combat fake ship machinery products and works to consolidate the engineering capabilities of smaller shipbuilders through the promotion of Super Eco-Ships (SES $ {}^{Note 2} $ ) by Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency (JRTT), the commercialization support of evolving technologies and so on.

## 4 Trends in Air Transport business and Measures

The climate in which the airline industry is placed stays hard on airlines for FY2012 as the demand for aviation has weakened temporarily under the influence of disputes over the Senkaku Islands that broke out in September and others, soaring fuel costs and more. After peaking in FY2006, the volume of passenger transportation in Japan’s aviation industry sloped downward because of global business recessions, the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and so on until it turned for the first time in six years for the better to reach 85.99 million (up about 8.1% from a year earlier), with prime impetus coming from the reconstruction demand sparked by the Great East Japan Earthquake and rising demand fueled by the entry of LCCs. The

number of international passegars also turned for the first increase in five years, reaching 14.2 million (up 12.8 from a year earlier level).

Since Peach Aviation, Japan’s first full-scale LCC, came into service in March 2012, Jetstar Japan and AirAsia Japan followed suit in July and August, respectively.

AirAsia Japan became a 100% wholly owned subsidiary of ANA on June 25, 2013 when AirAsia (Malaysia) and ANA Holdings Inc. broke up their business ties. On November 1 of the same year, the company was renamed “Vanilla Air,” coming into operation as a new airline on December 20. On December 17 of the same year, Spring Japan was granted a license to provide air services, expecting to start operating at the end of May 2014 as Japan’s fourth LCC.

## 5 Trends in the Consigned Freight Forwarding Business and Measures

The consigned freight forwarding business Note 3 is combined with multiple means of transport to provide services

Note 1 Large-sized floating structures that transport personnel and equipment to and from many offshore facilities on a hub and spoke basis.

Note 2 Next-generation domestic vessels, driven by an electric propulsion system, which combines excellent environmental performance to cut $ CO_{2} $ and $ NO_{x} $ emissions and boost fuel efficiency with economics.

Note 3 A business that transports cargoes by the means of transport (motor trucks, railways, aircrafts, ships) owned by real carriers (who undertake transportation by themselves) in a fully integrated, complex flow of door-to-door transportation, from picking up cargoes to delivering them.