After just four years in charge, Tadaaki Naito’s tenure in charge of one of the world’s largest shipping lines is coming to an early end.
Naito, president of the 134-year-old Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) since 2015, today delivered one of the company’s poorest financial results with the Tokyo-listed company revealing a net loss for 2018 of Y44.5bn ($398.4m).
Following a shareholder meeting scheduled for this June, Naito will move to become NYK chairman, which in Japanese corporate culture is a largely ceremonial role en route to retirement. His position as president will be taken by Hitoshi Nagasawa.
Nagasawa, 61, has been with NYK since 1980, most recently heading up the group’s profitable LNG division.
“We are viewing the results of this year seriously,” NYK stated in a release today. Nevertheless, the giant shipowner, with 290 ships on its books outside of its joint venture container vehicle, ONE, is forecasting a return to profit this year, predicting today a full year net profit of Y26bn for 2019.
