Nippon Yusen

1870-1900

The company traces its history back to the Tsukumo Shokai Shipping company founded by the Tosa clan in 1870. In 1875, as the renamed Mitsubishi Shokai, the company inaugurated Japan's first passenger liner service, with a route from Yokohama to Shanghai; and in that same year, the company name was changed to Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company. In 1885, a merger with Kyodo Unyu Kaisha (founded 1882) led to the adoption of the company's present name.

The merged company had a fleet of 58 steamships and expanded its operations rapidly, first to other ports of the East and then worldwide, with a line service to London being inaugurated in 1899.

1900-1950

The majority of Japanese merchant ships, tankers and liners sailed under the NYK banner in this period. Regular services linked Kobe and Yokohama with South America, Batavia, Melbourne, Cape Town; and frequent cruises to San Francisco and Seattle. Other routes connected local Chinese cabotage vessels on the Chinese coasts and upper Yangtze.

Ocean routes went east from Japan to Vancouver (Canada) or Seattle (USA). Another way was to stop in Hawaii, and continue to San Francisco and the Panama Canal. The next commercial routes were south from Japan, across the East China Sea. These went to South East Asia, the China coasts, and towards India and the Indian Ocean, to Europe or Batavia (Dutch Indies), or Australia and New Zealand. The fastest services took ten days from Yokohama to Seattle, and one month to Europe.

Local sea routes connected 78 home seaports (38 open to foreign trade). Yokohama, Kobe and Osaka had the greatest importance for trading with Japan. These ports had the third, fourth and eighth place in net tonnage registered in the world. Coal passed from Moji to Osaka and Yokohama. Karafuto timber represented a third part of local trade. Soy bean products from Dairen and Ryojun arrived at Yokohama. The sugar cane of the South Pacific Mandate and Formosa, cotton, salt and minerals represented other important parts of these transport transactions. In 1926 Toyo Kisen Line (TKK), with its fleet of nine ships, merged with NYK. The current funnel livery was introduced in 1929. The company also ran services connecting metropolitan Japan to its exterior provinces (Chosen, Karafuto, Kwantung, Formosa and South Mandate) of the Empire.

From 1924 all new cargo ships for NYK were motor ships. NYK introduced its first passenger motor ships in 1929 but continued to buy a mixture of steam and motor passenger ships until 1939.

In World War II the NYK Line provided military transport and hospital ships for the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. Many vessels were sunk by the Allied navies, and installations and ports were attacked from the air. Only 37 NYK ships survived the war. The company lost 185 ships in support of military operations in the Pacific. Before the war NYK had 36 passenger ships; by the time of Japan's surrender only one, the motor ship Hikawa Maru, survived.

NYK's surviving vessels and equipment were confiscated by the Allied authorities as reparations, or taken by recently liberated Asian states in 1945-46. SCAJAP requisitioned Hikawa Maru as a transport ship to repatriate Japanese soldiers and civilians from territories that had been liberated from Japanese occupation.

Selected ships

The NYK fleet expanded in bursts, responding to changed economic conditions and perceived changes in the market for passenger liner travel. The evolution of the fleet mirrors some of those developments. In the following lists, the dates of maiden voyages are indicated with each ship's name.

Amongst the many ships in the early NYK fleet, some names comprise serial categories. Some ships were named after Shinto shrines, and others were named after ancient provinces of Japan, cities of Japan, mountains of Japan or islands of Japan. Some ships had explicitly non-Japanese names, such as ships named after cities.

1950-present

By the mid-1950s NYK ships were again seen around the world.

As the demand for passenger ships dwindled in the 1960s, NYK expanded its cargo operation, running Japan's first container ship Hakone Maru on a route to California in 1968 and soon establishing container ship routes to many other ports. NYK became a partner in Nippon Cargo Airlines in 1978, and in 1985, added United States container train service in cooperation with Southern Pacific.

NYK revived its passenger ship business in 1989 with cruise ships operated by its newly formed subsidiary Crystal Cruises.

In 1990 NYK resumed passenger services under its own name when MS Asuka entered service on the Japanese cruise market. In 2006 Asuka was replaced by the much larger Asuka II, formerly Crystal Cruises' Crystal Harmony.

At the end of March 2008, the NYK Group was operating about 776 major ocean vessels, as well as fleets of planes, trains, and trucks. The company's shipping fleet includes around 155 containerships, 286 bulk carriers, 55 woodchip carriers, 113 car carriers, 21 reefer carriers, 78 tankers, 30 LNG carriers, and three cruise ships. NYK's revenue in fiscal 2007 was about US$26 billion, and as a group NYK employs about 55,000 people worldwide. The company has offices in 240 places in 27 countries, warehouses on nearly every continent, and harbor operations in Asia, North America, and Europe. NYK is based in Tokyo and has regional headquarters in London, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, and São Paulo.

2016

On Monday 31st of October 2016, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Mitsui OSK Lines and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha agreed to merge their container shipping business via establishing a completely new joint venture company. The integration will also include their overseas terminal activities. The new Company shall start operations from April 2018.

Specialized Pure Car and Truck Carrier ships - PCTC / RORO Division

NYK's RORO Division represents the world's largest RORO ocean carrier. NYK's RORO fleet has a 660,000 car capacity which represents just over 17% of the global car transportation fleet capacity. Over 123 vessels are deployed worldwide transporting cars manufactured in Japan, US, EU towards Asia, Middle East, North & South America, Australia, Africa and Europe. In addition to brand new cars, High and Heavy cargo (such as excavators, mobile cranes, new and used trucks and buses, trailers) and break bulk static pieces are carried all over the world by NYK.

Selected ships in post-war fleet

The modern NYK fleet encompasses a variety of ship names. Some names form series, as in those ships named after flowers, stars, star constellations, and provinces of pre-Meiji Japan.