Japan, Calling for a Shipbuilding Revival, to Provide Nearly 2 Trillion Won in Subsidies to Major Shipbuilders

[Financial News] The Japanese government has decided to pour nearly 2 trillion won in subsidies into reviving Japan’s shipbuilding industry, which led the global market in the 1950s and 1960s.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 4th, Yasushi Kaneko, Japan’s Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, held a press conference after the Cabinet meeting and announced that the government had decided to provide 213.1 billion yen (approximately 1.843 trillion won) to three shipbuilders over 10 years through fiscal 2034.
By company, 113.8 billion yen (approximately 984.2 billion won) will go to Japan’s largest shipbuilder, Imabari Shipbuilding, and its affiliate Tadotsu Shipbuilding; 49.4 billion yen (approximately 427.2 billion won) will go to the second-largest, Japan Marine United (JMU); and 49.9 billion yen (approximately 431.5 billion won) will go to Namura Shipyard and its subsidiary Hakodate Dock.
This marks the first disbursement from the Shipbuilding Industry Revitalization Fund established by Japan to strengthen its domestic shipbuilding industry. The Japanese government previously set a goal of encouraging a total of 1 trillion yen (approximately 8.6 trillion won) in public-private investment in the shipbuilding industry over the next 10 years, and established a 350 billion yen (approximately 3 trillion won) Shipbuilding Industry Revitalization Fund to support the effort. Last month, Namura Shipyard announced plans to build a new large dock in Imari Bay, Saga Prefecture—the first such construction in Japan in nine years—and said it would resume building liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, whose construction in Japan had been suspended since 2019.
The subsidies announced on the 4th are expected to be used for automation investments and research and development at each shipbuilder. In its Shipbuilding Industry Revitalization Road Map announced last year, Sanae Takaichi’s government referred to 1 trillion yen in shipbuilding investment and said it would double annual ship production to 18 million tons by 2035.
 

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