The Group is engaged in international business operations, and if an accident occurred due to political or social factors, or some natural phenomenon, its business could be negatively impacted in the related regions or markets. In the field of marine transport, a key business of the Group, cargo movements and conditions of the maritime shipping market are impacted by a variety of factors including economic trends in each country, market conditions for goods, the demand-supply balance of shipping capacity, the competitive landscape, and so on. Changes in those factors could have an impact on the Group’s sales activities and operating results. In particular, shifts in taxation systems and economic policies or the adoption of protective trade policies, etc. in North America, Europe and China, which are important trading nations (and regions) with Japan, can lead to a decline in international transport volumes and freight rates, which could have an adverse effect on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
Other major risks that could negatively impact the Group’s business activities include the following:
1. Exchange Rate fluctuations
A high proportion of the Group’s business sales is denominated in US dollars. As a consequence, values converted into Japanese yen may be affected by the foreign exchange rate. The Group takes measures to minimize the negative impact of foreign exchange fluctuations by converting expenses into US dollars and entering into foreign exchange forward contracts. However, appreciation of the yen against the US dollar could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
2. Fuel Oil Price Fluctuations
Fuel cost is a significant component of the Group’s ship operation costs. The price of fuel oil is extremely difficult to predict because it reflects a number of factors that are beyond the Group’s control, such as the supply and demand balance of crude oil, trends among OPEC and other oil producing countries, and changes in the politics and oil production capacity of oil-producing countries. Moreover, an expansion and strengthening of environmental regulations could require use of high quality fuel that has a low environmental impact, which could oblige the Group to procure fuel at a higher price. The Group takes measures to avoid the impact of unstable price fluctuations by fixing the price for a certain portion of its fuel consumption using futures contracts. However, a significant and sustained increase in fuel oil prices would push up the Group’s operating costs and have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
3. Interest Rate Fluctuations
The Group continuously makes capital expenditures for building vessels and so forth. The Group uses its own capital and borrowings from financial institutions for these capital expenditures, and controls interest-bearing debt appropriately. In addition, the Group procures operating capital required for business operations.
When procuring funds, the Group borrows a certain amount at a fixed rate of interest or uses fixed interest rate swaps for some of its borrowings for investment in ships and equipment. However, future interest-rate movements could increase the Group’s financing costs, which could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
4. Public Regulations
The shipping business is influenced by international treaties on operation, registration, construction of ships and environmental conservation in general, as well as laws and regulations relating to business licenses and taxes in each country and region. The enactment of new laws and regulations in the future could restrict the Group’s business development and increase its business costs, which could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results. The Group’s operated vessels are managed and operated in accordance with current laws and regulations, and they carry appropriate insurance coverage. However, relevant laws and regulations could be changed, and this may incur a cost to make the Group compliant with such changes.
In relation to the case of a possible cartel related to transportation of cargoes, including automobiles and construction machinery vehicles, the Group has become the subject of investigation by foreign competition authorities. In addition, in some countries, lawsuits seeking compensation for damages related to this case have been filed against several business operators, including the Group.
5. Serious Marine Incidents, Negative Environmental Impact, Conflicts, etc.
The Group has positioned safety in all ship operations and environmental conservation as its top priorities and has maintained and strengthened its safe operation standards as well as a crisis management system.
With regards to safety in navigation, the Ship Safety Promotion Committee, chaired by the President & CEO, meets periodically to conduct investigations and initiatives based on all manner of perspectives with regards to those matters related to safety in navigation. Furthermore, in our Emergency Response Manual we have set out the actions we must take in the event of emergency, and accident response is continually improved by regularly holding accident response drills. However, an unexpected accident, particularly one involving an oil spill or other major accidents leading to environmental pollution, could occur and have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results. Furthermore, piracy losses, operating in areas affected by political unrest or military conflict, and the increased risk to vessels from terrorism could cause major damage to the Group’s vessels and jeopardize lives of the crews. This in turn, could have a negative impact on the Group’s safe operation of vessels, voyage planning and management and overall marine transportation business.
With regard to environmental conservation, the Group recognizes the burden placed on the global environment by its business activities and promotes an Environmental Policy to minimize this burden. To ensure that initiatives for the environment are steadily promoted in line with the Environmental Policy, the Sustainability Management Promotion Committee, chaired by the President & CEO, has been established to deliberate and formulate this promotion structure.
6. Competitive Business Environment, etc.
The Group conducts its business in the international marine transportation market. In competing with other leading marine transportation companies in Japan and overseas, differences between the Group and peers in terms of management resource allocation in each business segment and competitiveness on cost and technology could have a negative impact on the Group’s position in the industry and on its operating results.
In the highly competitive containership business segment, the Group maintains and enhances the competitiveness of its services by participating in alliances with other marine transportation companies. However, events that the Group cannot control, such as a unilateral withdrawal by alliance partners, could have a negative impact on the Group’s sales activities, financial position and operating results.
7. Natural Disasters
Maintenances of business operations in the event of a natural disaster in the Group’s duty as the Group provides pivotal role for society, and it is a critical aspect of the justification for the Group’s existence. If a major earthquake were to occur at the heart of the Tokyo metropolitan area, many buildings, transportation systems and lifelines are expected to suffer from major damages. Furthermore, if infectious diseases, equivalent to the Act on Special Measures for Pandemic Influenza and New Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response, were to arise and cause a global pandemic, it could seriously harm the health of many people. Reputational damage could also accompany such natural disasters and secondary disasters. The Group has drawn up a business continuity plan (BCP) for these two disasters. In the event of a natural disaster, while the Group’s goal is to continue business operations by applying or adapting this plan, such natural disasters could have a certain degree of negative impact on the Group’s business.
By looking back on the series of responses we implemented to deal with COVID-19, we have completed an operational plan to guard against future pandemics. However, events that the Group cannot expect, such as the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant or the emergence of a new infectious disease could have a negative impact on the Group’s business operation.
8. Business Partners’ Failure to Perform Contracts
When selecting business partners to provide service to or to receive service, the Group investigates their reliability as far as possible. However, a business partner’s financial position may deteriorate in the future, and a full or partial breach of a contract could subsequently occur. This could in turn have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
9. Non-achievement of Investment Plans
The Group plans the necessary investments to upgrade its fleet. However, if the investments do not proceed as planned due to changes in conditions in the shipping markets or official regulations in the future, the Group may be obliged to cancel ship building contracts prior to taking delivery of new buildings and so forth, which could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results. In addition, if demand for transportation of cargo falls below the Group’s prior projections when the Group takes delivery of new buildings, it could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
10. Losses from Disposal of Vessels, etc.
The Group strives to upgrade its fleet flexibly in accordance with market conditions. However, it may be obliged to sell some of its vessels or make an early termination of charter contracts for chartered vessels in case of the deterioration in the actual balance between supply and demand for vessels, the obsolescence of vessels due to technological innovation, or changes of the trends in the charter markets. As a result, there could be a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
11. Fixed Asset Impairment Losses
Deterioration in the profitability of the Group’s fixed assets such as vessels may make recovery of the investment amounts unlikely. In cases where the Group recognizes loss on impairment of fixed assets as a result, it could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results. In addition, as the evaluation standard and evaluation method for its securities, the Group uses a market value method based on the market price on the last day of each financial term for marketable securities other than those that don't have a market value. As a result, a fall in the market price due to fluctuations in stock market conditions could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
12. Reversal of Deferred Tax Assets
The Group evaluates the likelihood of a reversal of deferred tax assets based on its estimated future taxable income. If the Group were to determine that it would not be able to secure sufficient taxable income in the future due to a decline in its earning capacity, its deferred tax assets would be reversed, and income tax expense would be recorded. This could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
13. Allowance for Loss on Chartering Contracts
The Group contract out containerships which the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries charter to other charterers. Because charter rates are affected to a certain degree by fluctuations in charter markets, there is a risk that charter rates may fall below hire rates. Based on available information, the Group has recorded a provision for potential future losses whose amount can be reasonably estimated under certain contracts where charter rates fall below hire rates. However, depending on changes in the Group’s planning for chartered vessel contracts or trends in charter markets, it may be necessary for the Group to record an additional provision for losses, which could have a negative impact on the Group’s financial position and operating results.
14. Information Security Measures
The Group takes measures to ensure and improve information security in order to provide safe and secure marine transportation and logistics services as a logistics infrastructure supporting global economic activities. Cyber-attacks have become extremely diverse in recent years, and local responses and product installations alone are not sufficient for complete protection. In a growing number of cases, information leaks due to unauthorized access and system outages due to virus infections have a negative impact on the Group’s sales activities, financial position and operating results. As information security measures, we employ a multi-layered security approach rather than relying on a single measure. This is designed to strengthen the Group’s ability to prevent attacks or to quickly detect abnormalities in the event of a security incident, as well as to respond to attacks and restore operations in order to minimize their impact. In addition, we have implemented information security measures from the following three perspectives: “Information Management,” which aims to protect information; “Cybersecurity,” which focuses on the defense of system networks against cyber attacks; and “Physical Security,” which prevents unauthorized access to facilities such as office terminals. As for our initiatives in marine cyber risk management, in particular, we have acquired Cyber Security Management System (CSMS) certification from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai for Our Group’s ship management companies and our vessels are proceeding with the acquisition of certification for other vessels. Safety is the core competence of “K” LINE Group’s maritime transport business. We will provide safer and more optimal transportation services by strengthening our response to cyber risks. We also provide security education to raise awareness of information security among Group officers and employees.
Note : Matters referring to the future are as judged by the “K” Line Group as of the end of the consolidated fiscal year under review. In addition, the items discussed here do not necessarily represent every risk to the “K” Line Group.
Please refer to the following for information regarding the risks faced by “K” LINE.
