NYK has continued its support of the recovery of the Tohoku area’s fisheries, which were devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake and the tsunami that followed.
The Signal Fire of Hope Fund was founded in July at the suggestion of Yukio Okamoto, an outside director at NYK. The goal of the project has been to encourage private companies to provide necessary materials and equipment to fisheries in the Tohoku area until the Japanese government is able to begin its recovery operations for the industry. Materials and equipment include refrigerated containers — some of which have been remodeled to better satisfy the needs of local fishermen — and automobiles.
In Miyagi prefecture on August 22, six refrigeration units were presented to the fish markets in the tsunami-devastated towns of Onagawa and Ishinomaki, three units to each town. These units had originally been utilized for NYK’s ocean transport of frozen goods, and had been remodeled to allow caught fish to be quickly frozen. At a ceremony in Ishinomaki celebrating the arrival of the units, NYK representative director and senior managing corporate officer Toshinori Yamashita said, “It’s a great pleasure that NYK’s containers can be utilized for the recovery of the Tohoku area’s fisheries.”
So far NYK has supplied 44 refrigerated containers for this project. NYK will continue to provide support to those in need to demonstrate the group’s commitment to remaining a socially responsible corporation.
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Source: NYK , August 26, 2011.