Keihin Dock Co., Ltd. and Fluid Techno Co., Ltd. have been selected by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for a subsidy under the DX Automation Program aimed at reducing labor through digital transformation, according to NYK's release.
The partners will jointly develop a system to correct measurement errors automatically during sea trials of small newly built vessels, exporting corrected GPS data and generating reports.
Fluid Techno will supply automated measurement software capable of error correction and report output, which Keihin Dock will install on a new tugboat during trial operations to validate both measurement accuracy and labor savings.
The project aims to improve record accuracy, reduce workforce requirements, and enable instant report generation through DX across development and testing phases.
This addresses challenges faced by many medium-sized Japanese shipyards, which struggle with labor shortages and manual sea-trial measurement processes prone to human error and delays.
Results will be submitted to certification authorities such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Keihin Dock Co., Ltd. is a medium-sized shipyard operating in Yokohama (Koyasu) and Yokosuka (Oppama) in Tokyo Bay, Keihin Dock is engaged in shipbuilding, repair, and environmental projects. It contributes to NYK Group’s next-generation fuel vessel R&D. Notably, it built Japan’s first hybrid tugboat “Tsubasa” (2013), the world’s first LNG-fueled tug “Kai” (2015), and converted “Kai” into the world’s first ammonia-fueled tug in 2024.
Based in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, Fluid Techno provides consulting services in ship hydrodynamics, including ship design support, towing tank tests, development and sales of energy-saving devices, and fluid analysis programs. It is one of the few companies capable of delivering the specialized Ship Performance Transfer and Analyzer instrumentation used for measuring parameters such as speed, turning, and vibration during actual ship sea trials.