05 PORT AND HARBOR
Reduction of logistics costs through port and harbor development
Developing new ports and harbors or improving their facilities through the introduction of Electronic Date Interchange (EDI) benefit shippers, consignors and other port users. Use of newly developed ports closer to factories or markets shortens distances and reduces the cost of domestic land transportation. Upgrading port and harbor functions, including improvements in "operation and administration" decreases transportation cost, leading to inventory savings. Japan's major ports like Yokohama and Kobe are currently building deep-water terminals to handle the "mega-ships" now being introduced on trans-ocean routes. These terminals will effectively cut operating costs for shipping companies, which, in turn, should lead to lower shipping charges and reduced logistics costs for international freight.
International seaway container terminals
These are terminals for efficiently handling of international seaway containers. In Japan, this function is provided by ports designated as the gate-way ports and the sibsidiary gate-way ports. The gate-way ports are the most important international ports and locate in the following four regions: Tokyo Bay, Ise Bay, Osaka Bay, and northern Kyushu. The subsidiary gate-way ports consist of eight important ports: Tomakomai Port, Shiogama Port, Niigata Port, Hitachinaka Port, Shimizu Port, Hiroshima Port, Shibushi Port, and Naha Port. To improve the efficiency of these ports, construction is underway on deep-water terminals (over 12 meters deep), extended-width terminals (over 300 meters wide), and highly efficient loading/unloading machinery to accommodate larger vessels.
