News
Japan’s ministries of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT); Economy, Trade and Industry (METI); and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) on May 7 jointly unveiled a report on a meeting convened online on April 23 to exchange views on container shortages.
Held in the midst of global maritime container capacity and airborne container supply shortages having led to a tight supply-demand balance, the meeting explained what the government of Japan is doing to tackle the issue. Shippers, shipping companies, logistics service providers and other relevant parties gave briefings on the current situation and introduced the actions they are respectively taking to make improvements. On behalf of shippers, the Japan Machinery Center for Trade and Investment (JMC) and Zen-Noh International Corp. attended the meeting, while shipping companies were represented by the Japanese Shipowners’ Association (JSA) and the Japan Foreign Steamship Association (JFSA). From the logistics industry, Japan International Freight Forwarders Association Inc. (JIFFA) was present.
At the online meeting, Nomura Research Institute (NRI) delivered a comprehensive lecture on port and harbor congestions, the background of delays in seaborne transport, causes of container shortages, freight rate fluctuations, the impact of container shortages on production and logistics and other topics. Then, the MLIT spoke of how it sees the ongoing container shortage issue. The ministry also touched on the requests for cooperation that it had made with relevant parties, the hearing sessions that it had held with private enterprises and the other efforts that it will made to work on the situation.
