NYK Line has ordered all staff at its head and branch offices to work from home after Japan announced a state of emergency to combat a surge in Covid-19 cases.
The shipowner said employees may be required to work at the office for “as short a time as possible, only if their managers determine it necessary”.
Just before Christmas, NYK Line decided to reduce the proportion of staff working at its offices from about half to 20%.
The company said the latest restrictions will remain in place until further notice.
NYK said face-to-face meetings will be prohibited and replaced by online meetings as much as possible, via applications such as Microsoft Teams.
“Our staff may visit customers’ offices, but only after receiving permission from the customers in advance and giving utmost consideration to the importance and necessity of the matter,” NYK said.
It has also asked customers to “refrain from visiting our office” with the exception of special cases, while domestic and overseas business trips are to be avoided, it added.
NYK said it considers prevention of the spread of Covid-19 and the health and safety of the company’s employees to be of the “utmost importance”.
It added that it will “continue to operate vessels safely” to “ensure the stable transportation of energy, resources, and materials that support people's lives”.
On Wednesday, Japan registered at least 97 coronavirus-related deaths, in what is reported to be the single highest daily total since the pandemic began.
The country has also expanded its Covid-19 state of emergency to seven more prefectures, covering the major cities of Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe and Fukuoka.
These seven areas join Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures, where the emergency measures came into force on Friday in the declaration that lasts until 7 February.
"We need people to seriously rethink their actions, especially youth in their 20s or 30s who form the largest group of infections. Many may be asymptomatic and going out without realising they are spreading the virus," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told a news conference.
Japan has also enacted a blanket entry ban on all non-resident foreign nationals until early next month in a bid to fight the surge in cases.
Mitsui OSK Lines and K Line had yet to update their respective staff working arrangements as this article was published.
