Press ReleasesNippon Paper Industries Starts Cooperative Marine Transport with Daio Paper Corporation

Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd.

Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Toru Nozawa; "the Company") started cooperative marine transport between the capital region and the Kansai area in cooperation with Daio Paper Corporation ("Daio Paper") on August 2. Specifically, to transport products from the Nakoso Mill (Iwaki-shi, Fukushima) of Nippon Paper Industries to the Kansai area, they are transported by truck from the Nakoso Mill to Chiba Chuo Port (Chiba-shi, Chiba) and there they are transshipped to a RORO ship used to transport products to the capital and Tohoku regions from the Mishima Mill (Shikokuchuo-shi, Ehime) by Daio Paper, and then transported by sea to Sakai Senboku Port (Sakai-shi, Takaishi-shi, and Izumiotsu-shi, Osaka), aiming to achieve a modal shift of product transport.

This regular round-trip transport between companies in the same industry is the first attempt (Note 1) in the paper industry and will contribute to the creation of a sustainable society including measures to address the 2024 problem and reduce CO₂ emissions in the logistics industry. This plan will be implemented as a part of the certification of the Integration and Streamlining Plan and the grant for the Modal Shift Promotion Program (Note 2), which are based on the Act on Advancement of Integration and Streamlining of Distribution Business in 2023 offered by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

Note 1: According to research by Nippon Paper Industries and Daio Paper.

Note 2: This plan will be implemented by the Association for the Promotion of the Cooperative Modal Shift of Paper and Pulp consisting of six companies including not just Nippon Paper Industries and Daio Paper but also Nippon Paper Logistics Co., Ltd. and Nanko Unyu Co., Ltd., which are group companies of Nippon Paper Industries, as well as Daio Logistics Co., Ltd., which is a group company of Daio Paper, and Daio Kaiun Co., Ltd., which operates RORO ships.

■ Overview of cooperative transport

Nippon Paper Industries

The Company has provided long distance truck transport to supply the business communication paper produced at the Nakoso Mill to the Kansai region. We have considered the realization of multiple means of transport through a modal shift to reduce CO₂ emissions and solve the 2024 problem in the logistics industry, especially because it is expected that stable long distance truck transport will become difficult in the future.

Daio Paper

Daio Paper uses the RORO ships of Daio Kaiun Co., Ltd. to transport the paper and board products produced at its Mishima Mill from Mishima-Kawanoe Port (via Sakai Senboku Port to Chiba Chuo Port) to supply the products to the capital region and the Tohoku region. It also expects that RORO ships will be used to transport home & personal care products including tissues and paper diapers in the future and in cooperation with Daio Kaiun Co., Ltd., it has been considering securing new partners to achieve the stable operation of RORO ships used to transport products from East Japan to West Japan.

To solve those challenges faced by both companies, the Company will transport the products produced at its Nakoso Mill by trailer to Chiba Chuo Port and transport them by sea from the port to Sakai Senboku Port using the RORO ships of Daio Kaiun Co., Ltd. With this, Nippon Paper Industries will reduce CO₂ emissions 46.7% annually and reduce the total journey time of truck drivers 78.8% when compared with conventional transport operations.