Meeting Held to Build a Stable LNG Carrier Supply System

The Japan Growth Strategy calls for building an LNG carrier supply system through cooperation between the demand and supply sides.

In response to this policy, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the shipbuilding and shipping industries, shippers, and relevant ministries held a meeting.

The shipbuilding industry stated that it would respond with a sense of mission to the social demands arising from economic security concerning the securing of LNG.

Shippers will pursue cooperation with the shipbuilding industry based on internationally competitive LNG carriers while considering planned orders of meaningful scale, and the shipping industry will do so while considering priority orders.

The public and private sectors confirmed that they would clarify the number of vessels ordered, schedules, capital investment, and costs, and give concrete form to the necessary support and mechanisms in order to secure a self-sustaining domestic construction system.

The participants were Minister Kaneko of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Japan Shipbuilders' Association, Imabari Shipbuilding, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Namura Shipbuilding, the Japan Shipowners' Association, JERA Co., Inc., the Cabinet Secretariat, the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

The shipbuilding industry explained the challenges involved in resuming construction and the direction of responses through cooperation, while the relevant ministries presented a policy of working with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to give concrete form to policy support.