NYK Group Activities [NYK's Activities (Ongoing Activities)]

Field Trips to Port Container Terminals

NYK Group hosts elementary and junior high school field trips on ships and at port container terminals around the world. NYK Group staff members act as teachers for extracurricular education that provides opportunities for the children to experience and learn things that are unavailable in the classroom.

Field trip to Oi Port Container Terminal

Children observing the port container terminal

In June 2009, 67 third-grade students from Omakubo Elementary School in Shinagawa visited Tokyo's Oi Port Container Terminal. After watching a video about container transport, the students went to the building roof to observe the container yard^* where the containers are stored, and a containership at berth.

Below are some interesting questions received from the students.

Q: How many people work at the terminal?
A: About 100 to 150 people work there every day.

Q: How do you lift a container? By magnet?
A: A crane spreader, which is used to lift a container, has four twistlocks that lock to each of the four top-corners of a container.

Q: How many containers are there in the world?
A: We cannot even guess. Around the world, there are so many terminals similar to the Oi Port Container Terminal. Moreover, containerships sailing the world's oceans are carrying many others. At only the Oi Port Container Terminal, there are about 7,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units; 5.9 m x 2.3 m x 2.3 m).

Q: How many tatami mats would fit in the Oi Port Container Terminal?
A: About 170,000 tatami mats (about 275,000 sq. meters = about five times the size of Tokyo Dome).

* the container yard
Container yard: a place for storing containers

Interview with staff members of the Nippon Yusen Tokyo Container Terminal

Staff Members of the Nippon Yusen Tokyo Container Terminal

Here are the Nippon Yusen Tokyo Container Terminal staff members who kindly escort us around the container terminal each time we visit.

“On hot summer days, it's really tough to address the class in the heat on the roof of the building, but once we hear a hearty 'Thank you!' from the students, we begin to notice the heat much less.”

Many students visit the Oi Container Terminal. Won't you be next?

Annual Beach Cleaning Event

2010 Beach Cleaning Event

Since 2007, over 100 NYK Group staff members and their families and friends have participated in a voluntary one-day beach-cleaning event every year. The waste collected in approximately an hour amounts to about 350 to 500 kilograms of broken glass, nails, cigarette butts, and plastic bottles.

For NYK, this project is aimed at group staff members who have strong ties to the sea and have received its benefits. Throughout the day, everyone participating remains engaged in deep thought about the environment.

Heartful Donation Campaign

Session held in the office

Since 2008, NYK group has conducted a Heartful Donation Campaign. Each year 3 NPOs that offer support to children (i.e. with disabilities, with difficulties living with their parents or family) are selected from the members of the Philanthropic Association, and invited to provide a session to the NYK group members to have a better understanding on the NPOs. Through the Philanthropic Association's donation system, Philanthropic Bank, the NYK Group's directors and employees has the opportunity to choose the most satisfactory NPO that they would like to donate for, followed by the company's matching gift.

Selected NPOs

2011:	Nishiwaki Fund, AMDA, ATOPICCO Children of the Earth Network
2010:	Nishiwaki Fund, Pao, Family House
2009:	Nishiwaki Kikin, Carillon Child Center, Childline Support Center
2008:	ATOPICCO Children of the Earth Network, Japan CliniClowns Association, Family House, Japan Philanthropic Association