[Mumbai, 6 November] Mr Satoru Kuboshima, President, K Line Shipmanagement Company Limited, Tokyo (KLSM) has requested, from Indian seafarers, “their extended support towards the K Line Group in this turbulent time.” Mr Kuboshima had come especially from Japan to address Indian officers at the company's ninth annual seminar.

In his address, Mr Kuboshima said, “Today I do not have any good news for you, but I want to update you on our biggest problem, which is the economic crisis and the recession.” Speaking on the tight market conditions, he informed the attendees that the US economy did not seem 'too good', China seemed 'okay' and India seemed 'very dicey' as its GDP was fluctuating. Japan’s economy was 'very slow', though the government was taking necessary steps to revive the economic situation, he added.

Mr Kuboshima detailed some steps that K Line had taken to ease the pressure, adding that a complete analysis of the situation had revealed that the K-Line Group is likely to end the year with estimated loss of 710 million US dollars. “This is a huge loss for the K Line group that has been in service for 90 years. A tough decision was made to lay off some container vessels and cut down on the wages of all the employees in the Group", Mr Kuboshima regretfully announced. Even in these tough times, Mr Kuboshima’s advice to the seafarers was mainly focused on “keeping the safety and quality of the vessels their number one priority.”

Box 1:

Mr Satoru Kuboshima expressed his concern on the global economic crisis and his views on expansion and training, besides others.

Global slowdown
I believe the shipping industry might start to recover within 6 or 9 months, judging by historical data. At K Line, we had to lay up some container ships due to the crisis; there were suggestions of even selling off older ships. The Kline group had to reduce the container fleet size, asking some officers to temporarily leave, due to the lay off of vessels and lack of joining slots. An unavoidable, but important, decision K Line had to take was to reduce the wages on Dry Fleet and so far, this seems to have gone down well.

On Expansion
We are expanding in a reasonable manner keeping in mind the recession and the demands of the market. We will continue to build ships, especially containers, to replace older vessels. The fleet will increase by 2012; any further expansion needs to be well planned.

On Training
In India, we train seafarers to focus on quality issues, better management, leadership and stress management in addition to basic training. At K Line, our main motto is to enhance the skills and efficiency of seafarers at both the professional and personal levels.

On the younger generation
The mental mindset of the young is that they do not want to do hard work. The young generation has to realise their goals with responsibility. A seafarer should be a thorough professional with proper knowledge and good management skills.