“K” President looks ahead to 2026 as a year of challenges and progress

The following are excerpts from the New Year Message delivered by Takenori Igarashi, President & CEO of “K” LINE, to employees at the Group’s Head Office in Tokyo this week.

“FY2026—the final year of the medium-term plan—will be a crucial year for advancing to the next stage of our growth, building on our efforts and achievements to date.

For example, starting in 2024, we are participating in the world’s first full-scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project, the Northern Lights Project, in the key role of ship management. This initiative represents an integrated achievement combining the robust relationships built with customers through our years of accumulated experience in the liquefied gas transportation business, our maritime expertise and technology capabilities, and our environmental technology capabilities. It is a symbolic model demonstrating how our strengths can contribute to solving societal challenges. 

The Seawing shipboard kite system—which utilises wind power to reduce carbon dioxide emissions—represents another effort leveraging our technological capabilities and serves as a new solution-based model for contributing to decarbonisation. …

Three foundational pillars — human resources & organisation, digital/DX, and management control — will be key to meeting future challenges.

In human resources & organisation, we will secure and develop talent dedicated to solving issues both at sea and on land. Organisationally, we will redesign our structure to strengthen access to growth markets by developing our global network.

In digital/DX, we will advance data development for decision-making, business process execution, and value creation. We will aim to achieve data-driven management and engage in external collaboration and partnerships.

In management control, we will seek to further increase the sophistication of our business operations and investment decisions. We will maximise returns exceeding the cost of capital, based on the characteristics of each business, while driving corporate value enhancement. …

2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse according to the Chinese zodiac. ‘Fire’ signifies a year of strong yang energy, where matters come to light, while the zodiac symbol ‘Horse’ symbolises action and passion, like a horse charging forward with vigour. This year is truly one worthy of challenge and progress.”