NYK held its first Dry Bulk Safety Conference in Athens, Greece, on January 25. The conference was attended by 74 participants from 36 Greek shipowners and other companies involved in the dry bulk business. Since 2010, this conference has been held annually in Japan, mainly for Japanese shipowners and ship-management companies, and this was the first year the gathering was held abroad.

The purpose of this meeting was to share information with Greek shipowners and others on past accidents and troubles and the subsequent responses. The NYK Group's initiatives for safe ship operations and efforts being made throughout the shipping industry to reduce the burden on the natural environment were also presented. NYK additionally introduced its activities to promote safe operation through NAV9000,* the NYK Group's safety standards, and the Remote Diagnostic Center (RDC),** which is a facility in the Philippines for remote diagnosis and monitoring of the state of engine plants. Moreover, the ship classification society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) introduced new-generation marine fuels and new SOLAS requirements for mooring equipment, and the Norwegian classification society Det Norske Veritas (DNV) presented an overview of the decarbonization requirements, industry trends, and technologies.

A lively exchange of opinions took place during the Q&A session. Participants asked questions such as "Could you tell me about NAV9000 more?" and "Which next-generation fuel do you think will be the most common in the world?" and offered comments such as "Very good opportunity to learn about trends in Japan's maritime cluster" and " It was a great benefit to learn about NYK’s activities to promote safe operation." demonstrating a high level of interest in the safe operation of vessels and the reduction of environmental impact.

NYK will continue to provide information on safe vessel operations and environmentally friendly initiatives to gain the understanding of maritime professionals, thereby contributing to the sustainable, safe operation of the entire shipping industry.

On March 10, 2023, the NYK Group released its medium-term management plan “Sail Green, Drive Transformations 2026 — A Passion for Planetary Wellbeing.” The NYK Group is promoting growth strategies with ESG at the core, based on the Group’s mission statement of “Bringing value to life” and a new corporate vision for 2030, which reads, “we go beyond the scope of a comprehensive global logistics enterprise to co-create value required for the future by advancing our core business and growing new ones.”

* NAV9000
NYK's own safety standards that include approximately 1,500 items that the company has compiled to fulfill customer requirements and prevent the recurrence of accidents. (See https://www.nyk.com/english/esg/social/nav9000/)

** Remote Diagnostic Center (RDC)
A facility that remotely diagnoses and monitors the engine plant of SIMS-equipped vessels 24 hours a day. Established in August 2020 at NYK-Fil Maritime E-Training Inc. (Seafarers Training Center) in the Philippines.