HAWAIIAN HIGHWAY

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Kawasaki Kisen sets sail as train car shipper

Japanese maritime transporter Kawasaki Kisen will add 15 new vessels capable of carrying rolling stock to its fleet by fiscal 2018, as growing competition squeezes its main business of shipping daily goods and minerals. A number of train cars, produced by Hitachi at a nearby plant, were being loaded onto a Kawasaki Kisen ship on Thursday at the Kudamatsu port in Yamaguchi Prefecture. They were part of an 866-car contract from the U.K. that will be Hitachi's largest rail-related export project yet. Kawasaki Kisen will handle most of the maritime transport. Hitachi began shipping rail cars to Britain in January 2015. But most large freighters were unable to enter Kudamatsu's shallow waters, forcing the company to first transport the cargo to the Kobe port on a smaller barge. At Kobe, the rolling stock was reloaded onto a European cargo ship for the journey to the U.K. Kawasaki Kisen began building a new type of car carrier in July 2015 that draws less than 10 meters of water, allowing it to dock at Kudamatsu. The ships' movable floors also allow for hauling rolling stock. http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Kawasaki-Kisen-sets-sail-as-train-car-shipper