The Japanese shipbuilding industry is seriously increasing its investments in shipbuilding factories across the country. The goal of these investments is to achieve the government's target of doubling domestic shipbuilding production. Estimates indicate that the total amount of these investments will exceed 1 trillion yen (6.4 billion dollars).
Key Investments and Projects
So far, 900 billion yen in public and private investments have been decided for this initiative, which includes the introduction of large cranes and the repair of a dock damaged by an earthquake. The shipbuilding industry is keen to invest in this sector, and in some factories, production is expected to more than double.
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Imabari Shipbuilding, Japan's largest shipbuilder, has planned to implement portable heavy-lift cranes and robots to increase the welding capacity of steel plates at its facilities, including its headquarters in Marugame and the Saijo factory in Saijo. The Ministry of Transport has decided to provide 113.8 billion yen in subsidies to the Imabari Shipbuilding group through the Shipbuilding Industry Revitalization Fund, which is the largest allocation to date.
The Future of the Shipbuilding Industry
The Imabari Shipbuilding group predicts that total investments will reach around 300 billion yen. Additionally, the Hakodate Dock factory in Hakodate, located in Hokkaido, is moving towards the repair of its No. 4 dock, which became unusable due to a major earthquake in 1993. The company plans to empty the dock and assess its condition, hoping to resume shipbuilding around 2032.
Oshima Shipbuilding has also planned to install cranes and upgrade its facilities at the Koyagi factory in Nagasaki, aiming to increase its annual production of cargo ships to about 10 vessels by 2031.
Given the challenges of competing with rivals in China and South Korea, the Japanese government has identified the shipbuilding industry as one of 17 strategic areas for intensive investments. Japan's goal is to increase public and private investments in this industry to about 1 trillion yen by 2035 and to double domestic shipbuilding production to 18 million gross tons.
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