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NYK Concludes Long-Term Charter Agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation for LNG Carrier

June 23, 2005

Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) has recently concluded a long-term charter agreement with Mitsubishi Corporation (Mitsubishi) for an LNG (liquefied natural gas) carrier. This agreement mainly concerns transportation related to the LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement that Mitsubishi signed with Qalhat LNG, and is additional to Mitsubishi's existing long-term charter agreement for a new LNG carrier for the same project.

Although Mitsubishi's primary schedule is to deploy the LNG carrier from Oman to the LNG Receiving Terminal in North America where Mitsubishi has LNG discharging rights, Mitsubishi is also considering future deployment of the LNG carrier to different places around the world. At present, since the agreement has not yet determined the vessel to be deployed, the optimal vessel will be adopted after consultation between Mitsubishi and NYK, to be held from this time on.

The start of the agreement is fixed as January 2006, following the start of export of LNG by Qalhat LNG, and the term of agreement is 15 years. Mitsubishi has an option to extend the agreement by a term of five years.

NYK is engaged in the operation of 33 LNG carriers and plans to expand its fleet to more than 60 LNG carriers by 2010. According to NYK's new medium-term management plan, "New Horizon 2007," which was announced in March 2005, NYK aims to expand its bulk/energy transportation business in the Atlantic Ocean. This agreement is therefore along the lines of this strategy.

In 2006 NYK will commence regular service of the LNG carrier toward North America, where the import volume of LNG is expected to increase rapidly following the conclusion of this agreement, with a mindset for further business expansion.