Major shipbuilders have charted a course for expansion but at a carefully measured pace.
While growing orders are buoying the industry, the companies are worried about building an excess of construction capacity.
They are holding back on large investments such as new docks.
A critical factor for expansion is efficiency in the movement of personnel. The companies aim to reduce the amount of time workers spend in the docks to complete a ship.
IHI Marine United Inc., a subsidiary of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., is using a "toilet commuting index" to improve productivity at its Yokohama shipyard.
The company is reviewing the deployment of machinery and personnel so that toilet commutes account for 70 percent of the time workers spend moving around the facility.
Currently, trips to the toilet make up only 7 to 17 percent of travel time.
"Installation of new equipment alone is not enough to reduce construction time," said Shigemi Kurahara, who served as general manager of the Yokohama shipyard until the end of March.
Ishikawajima-Harima is spending more than 5 billion yen over the two years through March 2007 to cope with growing orders at its shipbuilding facilities, including IHI Marine United shipyards.
By autumn 2005, the Yokohama shipyard had orders for three years of work, compared with two years' worth a year earlier.
Installation of new parts-processing equipment has reduced the time for work within the dock to 75 percent of the previous level.
At the company's plant in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, the painting section has been renewed.
Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. in January introduced a large crane at its shipyard in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, to reduce the amount of time workers spend in the docks.
The new crane, among the largest in Japan, can move 1.6 times the weight of the previous equipment. It cost 3 billion yen.
Shipbuilders are cautious about building new facilities out of concern of a global oversupply.
China is aiming for a 15 percent share of the world's new vessel construction by 2015.
Japanese companies are trying to differentiate themselves from Chinese rivals in fuel efficiency and other environmental factors.
Shipbuilders began expanding in fiscal 2005 after years of deteriorating performance and industry restructuring.
The past price decline led to a surge in orders from 2003. By early 2005, prices had doubled from a low in summer 2002.
In 2004, shipbuilders received orders for 15.5 million gross tons, up nearly 20 percent from two years earlier.
The companies have switched their focus to bulk carriers and other ships rather than container vessels, where South Korean rivals are strong.
Bulk carriers accounted for 57 percent of the orders Japanese received in 2005, up 15 points from a year earlier.
The industry came under pressure from low-cost competition from South Korea in the 1990s.
South Korea overtook Japan as the world's top recipient of orders in 1993 and as the world's largest producer in 2000.
Prices of new vessels fell as did the performance of Japanese shipbuilders. Hitachi Zosen Corp. and the former NKK Corp., for example, merged their shipbuilding operations in October 2002.
In 2004, the number of shipyards fell to 33, nearly 40 percent below the peak level.(IHT/Asahi: April 14,2006)
ASAHI WEEKLY