NYK Invests in Tree Planting Project in Albany, Australia, to Facilitate Transport of Wood Chips
December 1, 2003
NYK concluded a contract on November 26, 2003 to acquire a 5 percent stake in the Albany Plantation Forest Company of Australia PTY Ltd. (APFL) in Albany, southwestern Australia, and paid in its share of $A2,122,000 the same day. APFL is a joint project launched in 1993 by four Japanese companies - Oji Paper Co., Ltd., Itochu Corporation, Senshukai Co., Ltd. and Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc.
APFL has already planted trees in vast areas totaling 23,000 hectares under its 26,000-hectare afforestation project, which is being undertaken over a period of 30 years at a total cost of about $A100 million. Its first shipment of wood chips in March 2002 was transported by NYK's chip carrier.
APFL has attracted keen attention as a project featuring the improvement of the environment and a contribution to regional communities by means of tree planting as well as a sustainable business model of afforestation. As a result, it has successively received various awards - the 1995 Landcare Australia Award for WA Business from the Government of Western Australia in 1995; the APMF Environmental Marketing Award Certificate - an award started in 1997 by the Asia Pacific Marketing Federation (APMF) - in 1998; and the 2002 Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Community Business Partnerships in 2002.
APFL has sought participation by an enterprise engaged in marine transport in order to pursue a business model of an even more complete recycling type in keeping with the nature of its joint tree-planting project - that is, participation by corporations in different industries from their respective business motives.
Therefore, all the quarters concerned are hopeful that NYK's investment will go a long way toward further developing APFL's business.
NYK's 36 wood chip carriers - one of the largest fleets of its kind in the world - have contributed a great deal to the stable supply of wood chips for paper manufacture in Japan. NYK intends to make a further contribution through this tree-planting project to the preservation of forest resources on a global scale and the prevention of global warming as well as to the development of local communities.