Hitoshi Nagasawa is to step down as chief executive and president of NYK Line — one of the world’s largest shipping companies — and will be replaced by colleague Takaya Soga in April 2023.
Soga, 63, is NYK’s senior managing executive officer.
He joined the NYK in 1984 and has held senior positions in the car transportation business and as the company’s chief financial officer.
He has also spent 13 years working abroad for NYK in London, Thailand and Singapore.
At a Tokyo press conference to introduce the new chief executive, Soga said he would launch a mid-term business plan in the spring targeting growth and stable profits. The plan will be based on environmental social and governance principles.
“We are living through a time of great change,” he said referring to the moves toward decarbonisation.
He said that the containership business is continuing to normalise after two years of trade disruption and record profits for liner companies. The industry is now entering a “new phase”, he said.
NYK is expanding its business and is currently planning to build a new luxury cruise ship and grow in offshore wind farms and the renewable energy business.
After he steps down, Nagasawa will become company chairman. The current chairman, Tadaaki Naito, will step down on 31 March and become a company director.
