New NYK president Hitoshi Nagasawa has stressed the need for employees to comply with the law and serve society in a useful way.
In his inaugural speech to staff in Tokyo, he said: "In the words of the famous Japanese entrepreneur Konosuke Matsushita, 'companies are a public entity of society.'
"This means that companies perform the work required by society and also function to create a society suited for the next era. With this in mind, let me mention the three important points to which I want the group to give careful attention."
Firstly, he wants NYK to be useful to society. "Through the shipping business, NYK contributes to the global economy and the improvement of people’s lives," he said.
He also wants to earn the trust of all stakeholders.
"NYK aims to constantly achieve a profit level that earns our stakeholders’ trust by strengthening the company’s ability to withstand volatile market conditions and by building a stable-freight-rate business structure, as emphasized in the medium-term management plan Staying Ahead 2022 with Digitalization and Green," he added.
And thirdly, he asked employees to stick to the rules.
"Over the past few years, there have regrettably been several violations that deviated from the spirit of legal compliance," he said.
"I ask that you strive to maintain a firm awareness of legal compliance and never allow another scandal to occur."
Nagasawa concluded: "A new era has begun in Japan, but NYK’s basic philosophy of 'bringing value to life' is a universal value that will never change.
"With an awareness of our responsibility as a public entity of society, let’s be proud that we can contribute to society in so many ways and aim together to remain a corporate group that is trusted by the world."
The senior executive with a background in LNG was named as Tadaaki Naito's successor in April.
The 61-year-old is a near 40-year veteran of the company, having joined NYK in April 1980.
Naito is now chairman.
