World seaborne trade volumes are increasing rapidly in line with world economic growth. Especially in Japan, an island nation, marine transportation accounts for nearly 100% of imports and exports, of which around 70% is carried by Japanese merchant transportation vessels. Moreover, the transportation volume by Japanese merchant vessels on trilateral routes is increasing among Japanese companies expanding overseas business.
Source: SHIPPING NOW 2024–2025
Percentage of world tonnage handled
by Japanese merchant vessels
Japanese merchant vessels account for around 7%. Japan contributes to world economy as a shipping nation.
World tonnage (Including Japanese merchant vessels): 1,596.90 million gross ton
Tonnage carried by Japanese merchant vessels: 116.05 million gross ton
(％)
Source: SHIPPING NOW 2024–2025
Percentage of Japan’s foreign trade handled
by marine transportation
Marine transportation accounts for nearly 100% of Japan’s imports/exports
(%)
Source: SHIPPING NOW 2024–2025
“K” LINE is a first-class integrated logistics company in the world grown from the shipping business. We own and operate various types of vessels to correspond to the world’s marine transportation needs.
Source:Refinitiv
Since its foundation, “K” LINE has provided transportation services and developed and operated various types of vessels required by customers with world economic development. As of March 31, 2025, we operate around 448 vessels worldwide.
“K” LINE Group Operating Revenues by Segment
(%)
FY2024 Consolidated Operating Revenues
¥1,048 billion
“K” LINE Group Vessels in Operation
(vessels)
As of FY2024 total 448 vessels
We transport a large volume of dry bulk cargoes including iron ore, iron and steel products (steel stock), woodchip, grain and coal. We are expanding our business internationally by actively engaging in transportation of cargoes bound for not only Japan but also South Korea, China, India and the Middle East, as well as trade between third countries within the Atlantic region. We are taking on the challenge of low/decarbonization such as wind power, biofuel, LNG fuel, methanol fuel, and ammonia fuel.
In the Tanker business, we have developed a global business for customers both in Japan and overseas who transport crude oil and LPG. In addition to procuring bunker fuel (heavy oil, marine diesel oil, LNG, biofuel, etc.) for “K” LINE fleets, the Fuel Business conducts study projects of LNG / ammonia bunkering and liquefied hydrogen carriers aimed at enhancing fleet environmental performance.
Our “Corona Series” of wide-beam, shallow-draft coal carriers, developed in-house in accordance with port restrictions of Japan’s thermal power plants, provides safe and reliable transportation of coal mainly to power utility companies in Japan and Taiwan. In addition to developing new vessels with lower fuel consumption, we are also working to reduce environmental impacts by using wind power for propulsion. In the Offshore Business, we are participating in a drillship project off Brazil and a floating production, storage and offloading system (FPSO) off Brazil and Ghana.
In the LNG Carrier Business, we offer global transportation of LNG, a fuel source for which demand is increasing worldwide, and provide service to customers with diversifying needs across the LNG value chain. In the Carbon Solution Business, we promote the liquefied CO2 carrier business and offshore wind turbine support vessel business (offshore support vessels and transport vessels).
Since developing and introducing Japan’s first pure car carrier (PCC) in 1970, we have continued to provide high-quality transportation service of passenger cars, trucks and other vehicles globally. In addition, based on some 55 years of knowledge, we will also strengthen our High & Heavy (high and heavy cargoes such as construction machinery, agricultural machinery, and railway cars) transportation. An LNG-fueled car carrier was delivered in fiscal 2020 and fleet optimization is conducted with special care for environmental factors.
We provide comprehensive logistics services to meet various customer needs for ocean cargo transportation as well as air cargo transportation, tugboats, land transportation, warehousing, and automotive logistics, including storage, processing, and transportation of finished vehicles. In addition, we operate container terminals at four ports in Japan—Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, and Kobe.
Kawasaki Kinkai Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. operates a wide variety of vessels, such as coastal vessels to/from Asia, including fuel transport for biomass power plants; RORO vessels and ferries to promote modal shifts in Japan; and dedicated limestone carriers for steel and dedicated coal carriers for electric power. We also plan to begin offshore support vessel operations around Japan to further enhance the business.
In April 2018, the containership businesses of three Japanese shipping companies were integrated to form a new company, ONE. As of March 31, 2024, the “K” LINE Group operates a containership fleet of over 235 vessels totaling 1.84 million TEU. Through our extensive service network covering more than 120 countries worldwide, we provide reliable and prompt international transportation services
For more details, please refer to the Ocean Network Express (ONE) website.
