'K' Line to refocus on intra-Asia business, de-emphasises box shipping

JAPAN's "K" Line will ease up on its containership business in 2013 and expand into regional coastal shipping, automotive and motorcycle land transport, logistics, and port management in Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar.

To navigate a squeezed containership sector it will reinforce its efforts to reduce costs and create stable profits as it did in 2012 through rationalising capacity, said "K" Line president Jiro Asakura in his New Year's address.

Japan's No 3 container line forecasts that the market bottom is near for the dry bulk market with freight rates stabilising against delivery of capsize bulk carriers at half the level of 2012, Mr Asakura added.