Vision/Mission
By keeping up with trend of the times and carefully responding to the demands of an ever-changing business environment, we take on challenges that are one step ahead of present-day needs. As a result, we strive to enhance our corporate value and the stability of our management, ultimately contributing to the realization of an affluent society.
Business Description
Celebrating its 150th anniversary next year, Kamigumi is a leading Japanese logistics company and has continued to develop logistics business all around Japanese ports, as well as ports overseas.
Kamigumi’s business scope is quite wide-ranging. It has vast port infrastructure set-ups across Japan, including container terminals at Kobe and Tokyo solely operated by Kamigumi.
Kamigumi’s aggregated share of operating volume is ranked top at the six major ports in Japan.
As a company that was at the outset engaged in port cargo loading/unloading and transportation, Kamigumi steadily expanded its field of operations to include such activities as container terminal management, warehousing (bonded/temperature controlled etc.), customs brokerage, sea, air, land transportation, industrial packing, 3PL (third-party logistics), contract logistics, industrial project logistics, and heavy lift transportation & installation for such industries as automotive, chemicals, consumer and retail, energy, fashion, healthcare, hi-tech, manufacturing, telecoms and perishables.
Background
Kamigumi’s beginnings trace back to 1867, the same year that Kobe Port was opened, and a foreign cargo zone was also established. In the first half of its history, Kamigumi expanded to six major ports in Japan (1867-1927) and two major steel mill ports.
In the post-war era, it continued its expansion into the steel industry and nuclear power station business (1967), and started container terminal operations in 1968.
In 1973, it opened a representative office in Jakarta as its first overseas office. Later, other subsidiaries were established in Asian countries and the Middle East.
Kamigumi has six major business divisions:
Kamigumi’s business presence and development in overseas are being driven by its Overseas Business Division which consists of three functional divisions:
Apart from that, Kamigumi has specialized subsidiary companies for land transportation, marine transportation and air freight.
As a transportation and logistics provider, its business emphasis is on quality rather than quantity. Kamigumi has been going to great lengths to make terminal logistics simpler and more efficient to meet customers’ requirements. One result of such effort is a ‘Smart Terminal’ where customers’ cargoes are handled in an efficient, competitive and less time-consuming process.
Kamigumi is listed on the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Products/Services
Kamigumi has presence across all Japan gateway ports, providing following major services:
In addition to these, Kamigumi has other diversified business segments such as in real estate, solar power generation, liquor distilling & retail, and agricultural business.
Markets
Industry
Transportation & Logistics
Kamigumi’s aggregated share of operating volume is ranked top at the six major ports in Japan.
Location
Kamigumi’s registered head office is located in Kobe covering all over Japan. It also has another head office in Tokyo to suit customers’ requirements.
Kamigumi’s global coverage expands to major Asian countries, the Middle East and Americas, in 30 locations in 13 countries. Kamigumi is further expanding its overseas network. Kamigumi has started warehousing operation in Indonesia and Myanmar, both with branch functions, and has incorporated a new company in Malaysia and Mexico.
As an integrated logistics services provider, its goal is to offer optimized logistics that meet the individual needs of its clients – what it calls “Kamigumi-Designed Logistics” – and it is constantly engaged in logistics innovation to achieve even greater optimization.
Competitive Advantages
Kamigumi possesses a wealth of logistics equipment in major ports in Japan, including private terminals in Tokyo and Kobe. It has made forays into overseas as well, especially in Southeast Asia, and has tried to meet potential needs for logistics overseas.
As for the terminal operations, which are its strong point, Kamigumi is reaching out to overseas terminal development. Currently it is involved in running terminals at Laem Chabang’s port in Thailand, and Valencia’s port, Spain. It will be further extending this scope of its business.
One of Kamigumi’s advantages is cold-chain logistics. Kamigumi has a handling share of more than 50% of bananas and pineapples, the major perishable import goods to Japan, at its centralized cold-chain logistics center, through which the goods are distributed to all over Japan.
Kamigumi’s biggest advantage over the competition is a workplace skill with experience and expertise, driving “Kamigumi Designed Logistics” to meet customers’ various requirements.
Regarding the potential of natural disasters occuring in future, taking advantage of the lessons of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake (Kobe Area), Kamigumi continues to apply anti-earthquake reinforcement at its facilities, create BCP manuals and conduct safety training for employees in order to minimize the risk of damage to the company’s logistics infrastructure.
Financial Projection
To increase the value of the company, Kamigumi operates with an emphasis on the shareholders’ interest and on the enforcement of corporate governance. Therefore, it puts great importance on the disclosure of information (through its corporate website) and face-to-face dialogue with its clients.
FY 2016 forecast of consolidated financial results
Operating revenue: 245 billion yen (+1.1%)
Operating income: 23 billion yen (+4.5%)
Ordinary income: 24.3 billion yen (+1.9%)
Net profit: 16.3 billion yen (+1.8%)
In this year, Kamigumi has seen a slight downturn in its overall revenue mainly due to service changes by shipping lines, volatility of grain and feed prices, and lower handling volumes of iron and steel caused by China’s oversupply. However, Kamigumi as a group has remained stable in its financial turnover thanks to increased handling of large-scale plant projects and energy cargo, as well as integrated 3PL operations for clients in the manufacturing segment.
Kamigumi observes that uncertainty does exist in the market arising from manufacturing relocations, industrial reshufflings, etc., so-called exterior factors, but on the other hand Kamigumi is confident of its capacity to minimize those adverse effects through the diversification of cargo handling operations.
Company Goals & Objectives
Kamigumi Group’s new five-year business plan sets goal to achieve operating revenues of 300 billion yen and recurring profits of 30 billion yen in the consolidated financial results in the final year of the plan, 2020.
The plan sets six goals as follows:
(1) Strengthening the current business base
(2) Strengthening sales capacities
(3) Expanding business by M&As
(4) Continuous business growth strategy
(5) Enhancing global logistics services
(6) Strengthening financial fundamentals.
Kamigumi focuses its capital resources on core businesses, aiming to strengthen cargo solicitation capacities and extend coverage. Kamigumi will also, through positive forming of business alliances and investment, will accelerate its business development and expansion. With flexibility in challenging the new business, Kamigumi will be expanding the brand of “Kamigumi Designed Logistics” globally. Through these practices, it is enhancing its corporate value and carrying out its corporate social responsibilities.
Good partners are essential to grow its business overseas. To improve and expand this partnership Kamigumi will be doing more capital investment and M&As.
Management
Chairman & CEO – Masami Kubo
President & COO – Yoshihiro Fukai
Employees
4,147 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2016)
Highlights
In 1867, Kamigumi was established at the same time as the opening of the Port of Kobe. At that time it was entrusted by the Kobe Customs Office with cargo transportation, the success of which was highly valued by the Customs Office, and made Kamigumi’s industrial fame.
In 1923, after the Great Kanto Earthquake (Tokyo area), it established a satellite office in Tokyo to handle aid supply. This credit of recovery operations made Kamigumi keep handling cargo in Kanto area.
Finally it covered six major ports in Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe and Hakata) as a base of port logistics.
In 1934, in the wake of the enormous Typhoon “Muroto”, it salvaged a number of barges washed ashore in Osaka Bay by mobilizing the company-owned floating crane.
In 1967, the first container vessel from the United States called at the Port of Kobe; then Kamigumi started investing in ports in Kobe, Nagoya and Osaka to provide container operations that contributed to forming networks of container operations across all Japan ports.
In 1973, Kamigumi opened a representative office in Jakarta as its first overseas office. Later other subsidiaries were established in Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
In 2003, Kamigumi opened an independent private container terminal in Kobe, the first of the domestic terminal operators. In 2004, it opened another in Tokyo, also as an independent operator.
Currently, the company handles 2 million TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) of containers a year at 13 terminals, which is about 10% of Japan’s entire handling volumes.
Other Notes
As a leading harbor transportation and logistics company, Kamigumi plans to invest proactively in terminals overseas. There may be bidding processes for the operator(s) to be selected, in which case it may have to compete with some other mega-operators of the world. The company will, however, work for the port projects as an Official Development Assistance (ODA) led by the Japanese government and be always positive in such challenges.
As a part of its CSR policy, Kamigumi takes on environmental conservation activities such as promoting modal shifts, introducing low-emission and fuel-economy automobiles and LED lights, and making use of solar power. It serves local communities by carrying out activities such as site tours of harbor transportation facilities for local children, forestation, and cleanup activities.
The company has a history of leading the development of the harbor transportation industry in Japan with substantial investments to meet its business targets. It is proud of its achievements in Kobe and Tokyo ports, which house terminals with high standards and profiles and are operated solely by Kamigumi. These terminals can meet the wide demands of shipping lines by providing the most advanced Terminal Operation System (TOS) and cargo handling equipment.
As for TOS, Kamigumi’s system is called “CATOS”, which is the product of the Total Soft Bank Co., Ltd. (TSB). It has a joint company with TSB for maintenance work that is provided to the other terminals.
Kamigumi has heavily invested to renovate its fundamental IT systems, and is certainly intending to do so to keep up with the development of supply chain service networks, where logistics and the associated information are closely interrelated.
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