Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Yusen Logistics Co., Ltd. have transported a training boat, free of charge, from the U.S. back to its home city in Japan. After the tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake swept the boat into the ocean, the vessel drifted across the Pacific Ocean and eventually beached on the shore of Crescent City, California. The boat belongs to the Marine Systems Department of Takata Prefectural High School in Rikuzentakata city in Iwate prefecture. Students from the school are currently attending classes in temporary buildings in Ofunato city in Iwate, the company said in its press release.
In April of this year, the boat was found on the California beach, and students at nearby Del Norte High School made efforts to return the vessel to Takata High School. Hearing this news, NYK Group offered to assist in transporting the craft back to Rikuzentakata, where NYK Group members have participated in voluntary relief activities since October 2011. NYK then transported the boat from the port of Oakland in California to Sendai port in Japan. Yusen Logistics handled customs clearance operations and land transport for the project, and the boat was shipped over the Pacific via the NYK containership Spring R, which arrived in Sendai on October 13.
Takata High School students watched as the boat was taken to the Rikuzentakata Municipal Museum (previously Oide Elementary School) on October 22. On the same day, a ceremony was held and attended by NYK Group representative Shingo Kawamura, the president of Yusen Logistics (Tohoku) Co., Ltd. The boat will be stored at the museum and will also be used for disaster prevention education. To strengthen the bonds created through this project, Takata High School plans to deepen exchanges with Del Norte High School.
The NYK Group will continue to pursue social contribution activities based on the company’s core business of transporting goods.
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