2.5. Container Terminal Management and Operation

2.5.1 Overview

Since container transport was first introduced into Japan in the beginning of the 1960s, the amount of imported and exported container cargo handled has increased, rising from 6.36 million tons in 1970 to about 172 million tons in 1999. Over this period, Japan has responded to the increasing number of containers with public wharves and terminal corporation wharves. Differing from the original public wharves, terminal corporation wharves represent an attempt at more efficient use through the exclusive leasing of wharf space. In the late 1960s, financed with public funds, the newer wharves were built in Tokyo Bay and in the Osaka Bay region to provide container wharves in a timely and systematic manner.

According to the 1996 Council for Ports and Harbors report, in consideration of their significant affect on the country's distribution channels and distribution costs, investment in container terminals has been emphasized due to their contribution to lowering distribution costs.

In 1998, new government policy on the development and operation of container terminals, the core of international container distribution, was formulated as a means of reducing usage costs and correcting the high cost structures of the local and national economies. This policy was intended for the Three Major Ports (Tokyo Bay, Ise Bay, and Osaka Bay), which have the greatest concentration of sea-lanes and handle the greatest number of containers. It was designed to provide more inexpensive and user-friendly container terminal services and to allow these ports to better fulfill their functions as hubs of international trade.