On July 21, Japan’s three major shipping companies—Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line)—jointly announced with the Japanese Shipowners’ Association their decision to build and donate a large training vessel to the Japan Maritime Education and Training Agency (JMETS), an independent administrative institution.
As a specialized organization for seafarer training, JMETS currently operates eight schools and five large training vessels in Japan, having trained over 10,000 Japanese seafarers since 2001. However, in recent years, due to increasingly severe financial constraints, maintaining maritime training operations has become more challenging. In response, the three major shipping companies and the Japanese Shipowners’ Association have initiated concrete research and discussions on donating a large training vessel.
According to the plan, the three companies and the association will negotiate the vessel’s specifications and shipyard selection, aiming to complete construction around 2030.
JMETS currently faces multiple challenges, including an unstable financial foundation, reduced training days at sea due to rising fuel costs, shortages of instructors and crew, and difficulties in conducting adequate maritime training due to the practice of mixed training—where students of varying qualifications and skill levels are assigned to the same vessel for “multi-subject, multi-participant combined training.”
Additionally, JMETS must address the aging of its training vessels and facilities. Among its five training ships, the sailing vessels *Nippon Maru* and *Kaiwo Maru* are 40 and 35 years old, respectively. Of the three steamships, the newest, *Taisei Maru*, is 11 years old, while the *Ginga Maru* and *Seiun Maru* are 21 and 27 years old, respectively.
A summary report by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), titled *Mid-Term Development Direction for JMETS*, states that maintaining the current five-vessel system is “extremely difficult,” and “reducing the fleet is inevitable.” However, the ministry also emphasized that “even with fleet reduction, constructing replacement training vessels is necessary.”
To address JMETS’ challenges, the three major shipping companies will actively explore the feasibility of donating a large training vessel to support its reform efforts and sustain Japan’s seafarer training system.
