Together with our Customers
Logistics services
Customer Satisfaction Survey for Kobe Terminal
Returnable Transport Item (RTI) Management SystemCruise
Management system for the transport of finished vehiclesCooperating with the local community service activities of customers
Deployment of new aircraft
Logistics services
The NYK Group has been providing total logistics services through the strategic collaboration between two brands: NYK Logistics, which was operating ocean freight forwarding,*1 land transportation, warehousing, and distribution services; and Yusen Air & Sea Service, which specialized in air freight forwarding. We are now integrating these two into a single global brand, “Yusen Logistics.” This global integration, which is under single management, will better link the ocean, land, and air networks by combining logistics expertise and techniques; increasing the efficiency of operations of warehouses, computer systems, and other assets; and optimizing the utilization of human resources, the most important asset of the NYK Group. We look forward to increasing business opportunities to provide our valuable customers a wider range of quality services on a global scale.
The integration began in October 2010 in Japan, and by April 2011 will extend to more than 20 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. The project is expected to be completed by March 2012. We will continue our efforts to contribute to the development of the international economy.
*1 Forwarding
Service that involves sourcing space from ocean and air freight carriers for the transportation of customer cargo, including customs clearance
Logistics services from Yusen Logistics Co. Ltd.
Customer Satisfaction Survey for Kobe Terminal
Customer Satisfaction Survey results
Container terminals are the linchpins that bring together ocean and land services in international logistics. They are also a point of contact with owners and other customers through the medium of cargo. Since Fiscal Year 2008, we have conducted a customer satisfaction survey of approximately 80 client companies to better understand how we are doing. The survey involved direct visits to companies to explain our intentions, and participants received reports of both the findings and new initiatives resulting from them. We take their opinions and remarks and are working to improve. The outcome of the survey has been better communication with customers and a gradual enhancement of our reputation. We will continue to make efforts to improve customer satisfaction in the future.
Returnable Transport Item (RTI) Management System
To address limited resources and supplies, as well as environmental issues and rising distribution costs, RTIs will continue to increase and replace conventional and disposable packaging. NYK and the Monohakobi Technology Institute (MTI) have developed automatic-identification technologies to support our customers' optimal use of RTIs.
RTIs must be collected, and any improper management of transfers can actually increase costs from loss, theft, and transfer inefficiency. But we can reduce those risks by installing IC tags*1 on RTIs and thereby tracking their locations. MTI has a logistics facility, its MTI Tokyo Lab, which conducts various tests and provides solutions for each customer's needs. The lab has equipment on display and provides demonstrations so that customers can experience and understand automatic-identification technologies firsthand.
Survey of visitors at the MTI Tokyo Lab in Fiscal Year 2010
*1 IC tag
A tag that uses radio waves to recognize people and objects. It is sometimes referred to as an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag.
Cruise
Our No.1 priority is for our guests to feel the joy of life through their cruise experiences. We create and offer unparalleled cruises at a high level of safety based on our expertise as an ocean transportation company. Our guests enjoy travel to a wide diversity of cities, the beauty of nature, and world heritage at ports of call, as well as a variety of entertainment, refined cuisine, and facilities to promote health, such as spas, on board our ships, all enabled by a delicate coordination of both hardware and software resources. Our product consistently receives high praise from guests all over the world.
Management system for the transport of finished vehicles
Currently, the transport of any finished vehicle from automotive factory to dealership is controlled by a paper label (which contains data such as destination, delivery date, parking location, etc.) affixed to the vehicle's windshield. But if the destination changes during transport, it becomes necessary to update and reprint the paper label. Then the new paper label must be manually replaced on the vehicle, which might entail relocation of the vehicle itself to a new storage location. And if there are several sequential updates to a vehicle, mismatches can arise between the information in the system database and the paper information on the actual vehicle.
The Monohakobi Technology Institute (MTI) has been one of the subcontractors for the "Ubiquitous Tokku" program initiated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) in September 2008, and is moving forward on a three-year plan in cooperation with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to conduct pilot tests to prove the efficiency of "spatial codes" in international automotive logistics. By using active RFID*1 tags with display functions in place of paper labels, companies can now manage individual vehicles and monitor events such as shipping history. And whenever the system database is updated, a remote reader antenna broadcasts the new information by radio and automatically changes the display on the vehicle tag, significantly reducing the need for paper labels and their attendant man-hours.
Plans for the future include developing mechanisms that allow vehicle tags to auto-input data and communicate more actively with logistics management systems, which enhancement is expected to reduce costs and increase the reliability of automotive transport. MTI continues to focus on customer perspectives as it develops technologies and solutions that solve logistics challenges, thus adding extra value to customers' logistics services.
Application of active tags*2 with display functions for finished vehicles
- Reading bar-code data from paper labels takes many man-hours and is time-consuming.
- Identification of individual vehicles takes many man-hours and is time-consuming.
- Replacing paper labels takes a substantial amount of time and work.
- Using lots of paper labels creates an environmental burden.
- Paper labels cannot be updated during transport.
- Because companies now all use different systems, it costs a lot of time and money for them to share information.
- Eliminating the need to replace labels by hand means a substantial reduction in work processes for inventory, etc.
- Identifying individual vehicles requires fewer man-hours.
- Changes in destination, end customer, and such can be efficiently made during transport.
- Great cost performance comes from using spatial codes for location identification and from sharing that enhanced information among multiple involved parties.
*1 RFID
Radio Frequency Identification
Automated noncontact recognition technology using radio waves to identify items such as cargo and transportation units
*2 Active tag
Active electronic tags have a builtin battery and can transmit data over distances of hundreds of meters. The newly developed electronic tag also comes with "display functions" that enable easy remote confirmation and modification of the tagged object's storage location, destination, and other information.
Cooperating with the local community service activities of customers
NYK provides visits to coal carriers as part of its efforts to cooperate with the local community service activities of customers that have contracts for these dedicated vessels (electric power companies). We have also created a comic book in Arabic that provides an easy-to-understand explanation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) transport for children in Qatar and other countries. These efforts to provide the general public with basic knowledge about LNG and NYK's efforts to transport it safely have earned high praise from local communities.
Deployment of new aircraft
Nippon Cargo Airlines Co. Ltd. (NCA) has accelerated the switchover of its fleet by retiring all its Boeing 747-200F aircraft during Fisical Year 2007 and moving entirely to Boeing 747-400Fs in April 2008. The introduction of these high-performance airplanes enabled the company to maintain safe operations while also improving the ontime performance and quality of its services.