“K” LINE CENTRALIZES VESSEL OPERATIONS IN SINGAPORE

“K” LINE CENTRALIZES VESSEL OPERATIONS IN SINGAPORE

“K” LINE CENTRALIZES VESSEL OPERATIONS IN SINGAPORE

   Tokyo-based “K” Line will centralize space control operations, vessel stowage planning, container inventory control and other activities of its container shipping business to a new Asia Operation Center based in Singapore.
   The Asia Operation Center will be set up as a business division within “K” Line Pte Ltd., a wholly owned Singapore-based subsidiary of “K” Line.
   The shipping line said that the center will be responsible for stowage planning for outbound legs from Asian and Japanese ports in the east-west services, such as the transpacific, Asia-North Europe and Asia-Mediterranean services. The center will also manage space control in the Asia and Japan area, inventory control of container equipment, and cost control of variable expenditures in Asian countries including Japan.
   The transfer of activities to the Singapore center is scheduled on April 1. The activities are currently carried out by three regional offices of “K” Line: “K” Line Tokyo, its Richmond, Va.-based U.S. headquarters and its London-based European regional office.
   “K” Line Pte Ltd. has already assumed the principal functions for the containership services in the intra-Asia, Asia-Africa and Asia-Latin America trades.
   “We are aiming to make the entire operation management more efficient by unifying and transferring those jobs to “K” Line Pte Ltd. as the pivotal office in the Asia and Japan area,” the Japanese group said.