THE newly appointed president and chief executive of K Line, Takenori Igarashi, laid out a vision to steer one of Japan’s largest shipping groups through mounting global disruption in his inaugural address on April 1.

Igarashi was unequivocal about the scale of change driven by new technologies, digital transformation and talent pressures. He also underscored heightened risks from geopolitics, protectionist trade policies and deglobalisation trends.

Igarashi pointed out that in addition to the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, uncertainty over global energy and trade policies has increased since the inauguration of the new US presidency in January.

“There are moves to introduce policies that could have a major impact on the speed of the shift toward low carbon and decarbonisation, as well as on the supply chain and transportation demand itself, with the raising of customs tariffs on specific countries and products, and the introduction of port entry fees at US ports for ships operated by Chinese shipping companies and ships built in China. 

“The uncertainty of the current business environment outlook is increasing,” Igarashi warned. However, he positioned sweeping transformation as creating openings for K Line in emissions cuts, offshore wind and other spheres.

The executive reaffirmed commitment to a five-year strategic plan centred on coal and iron ore shipping, car carriers and liquefied natural gas transport — sectors in which K Line boasts global leadership.

The strategy eyes fleet and volume growth, plus customer base expansion in India, the Middle East and with major resources companies.

K Line’s pioneering role in liquefied CO2 delivery and offshore wind installation in Norway and Japan also won praise from Igarashi as “progressing smoothly”. Its new geological survey vessel launched last September heralds a widening offshore wind presence.

Underpinning commercial expansion are key strengths in safety, environmental technology and digitalisation that must continue intensifying, Igarashi stressed. K Line will further boost training and shipmanagement to uphold its uncompromising navigation safety priority.

Igarashi called for “courage and passion” across the group’s 17,000 staff to embrace change, balanced by “animal spirit” from senior management to judiciously weigh risks.

“In addition to responding with agility to dizzying change, we must have the courage and passion to act without fear of change,” he said, aligning attitude with strategy.

“Let’s work to improve the value we provide to all stakeholders and aim to become an even more attractive company,” he concluded.