Singapore-based Kumiai Navigation (KN) threw a lavish party last week at the historic luxury hotel Raffles Singapore to celebrate its 30th birthday.
KN, a subsidiary of Kumiai Senpaku in Japan, was established in Singapore in 1995 to achieve lower operating costs.
Around 300 guests attended, with some specially flown in for the occasion.
Among them were Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore’s Jasmin Tan, Gyxis Corp’s Keiji Tanaka, Astomos Energy’s Yoshihito Takahashi, Equinor’s Leif Ole Tendenes, AltaGas’ Ken Wentworth, Anglo-Eastern Univan Group’s Peter Cremers, Singapore Maritime Foundation executive director Tan Beng Tee and Berge Bulk’s James Marshall.
KN managing director Tomomaru Kuroyanagi shared with his guests the challenges he faced when launching the company.
“At that time, Singapore was still in its early formation days of becoming the shipping hub of today,” said Kuroyanagi.
He added that he spent sleepless nights in the city-state, worrying whether he could successfully establish the company, as he struggled to understand the locals’ informal, “bullet fast” English.
“Now, Singlish has become an opera to my ears and our company has flourished over the years,” he said.
Kuroyangi said Singapore’s support for the maritime industry has helped KN to achieve remarkable growth on the global stage.
“Looking ahead, the shipping industry faces several challenges,” he said.
This includes environmental issues, geopolitical risks and piracy threats.
“We take these challenges seriously and are fully committed to addressing them.”
KN started with six vessels in Singapore, but today it has 23, including four newbuildings. Its total net assets are worth over SGD 1bn ($733.5m).
