ABSTRACT
Japanese shipping companies, including the BIG3, have usually made long-term contracts with shippers such as Japanese manufacturing companies and electric power companies to ensure stable sources of earnings. The energy-resource-development businesses such as offshore and liquefied natural gas (LNG) transport are rapidly gaining the attention of shipping companies. One of the major factors in the low profitability of Japanese shipping companies was the possession of Japanese-flagged vessels and the high cost of hiring Japanese seafarers. The Tonnage Tax Scheme is the special taxation system prepared for international shipping companies. Responsibility for quality control should primarily be borne by the flag country, the country of ship registration. Based on international conventions, the flag country must legislate and observe those vessels using inspections. The main factors in this quick development were the government’s policies of industrialization, which centered on iron and steel, shipbuilding and shipping industries.
