LNG, offshore top NYK president’s new year’s honours list

Launched in 2011, the plan includes increasing efficiency, focusing on value-added activities and reducing overheads and comes to an end in March this year after leading NYK to investments in the offshore and LNG sectors, as well as related activities from shuttle tankers to upstream and midstream LNG projects.

Low rates and high competition in the container sector led the group to exercise caution with its investments in boxships, while aggressively investing in LNG carriers and shuttle tankers to benefit from the stronger markets and stable earnings from long term contracts. Earlier this year, shuttle tanker joint venture Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers closed its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange for $156m.

FPSOs have also been a target for reducing the group's exposure to market volatility; one unit in Brazil is already generating income for an NYK joint venture with Mitsubishi, SBM Offshore and Queiroz Galvão Óleo e Gás, with a further two to follow in late 2015 and early 2016.

"We were back in the black in the previous fiscal year and able to post a recurring profit of JPY25.6bn ($244m) for the first half of the current fiscal year. This is due to the proactive efforts made by the entire group to thoroughly reduce the 3 M's - muda, mura, and muri – non-value-adding activities, unevenness in production or work activities, and excessive burdens," Kudo stated in his message.

NYK's third quarter 2013 results are expected at the end of this month.