Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation

Infobox_Company
company_name = Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation
company_
company_type = Subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries
slogan =
foundation =
location = Kobe, Japan
industry = shipbuilding
products = ships
homepage = [http://www.kawasakizosen.co.jp/english/index.html]
footnotes =Nihongo|Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation|川崎造船|Kawasaki Jōsen is the shipbuilding subsidiary Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It produces primarily specialized commercial vessels, including LNG carriers, LPG carriers, container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers, as well as high speed passenger jetfoils. In addition, it is also a producer of warships for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, including submarines. Kawasaki also produces marine machinery, including marine engines, thrusters, steering gears, deck and fishing machinery.

History

Kawasaki's origins go back to April 1878, when Shozo Kawasaki established Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard in Tokyo with the support of fellow Satsuma native and Vice Minister of Finance, Matsukata Masayoshi. [McClain, Japan:A Modern History, p. 282]

In 1886, he established a second shipyard in Kobe, Hyōgo prefecture. With the First Sino-Japanese War, the two shipyards were flooded with new orders and ship repair requests. [Schenking, Making Waves, p. 183] The two shipyards were merged in 1896 as the Kawasaki Dockyard Company, Ltd. Realizing the limitation of private management, Kawasaki decided to take the company public, and (as he had no son) chose Matsukata Kojiro, the third son of Matsukata Masayoshi, as his successor. [McClain, Japan:A Modern History, p. 372] Matsukata remained president for the next 32 years until 1928. Matsukata expanded business into rolling stock, aircraft, automobiles and shipping. He also implemented Japan's first eight-hour work day system in 1919, after a massive strike by 30,000 workers threatened to bring down the government of Prime Minister Takashi Hara. [Hane, Modern Japan, p. 225]

Under Matsukata, Kawasaki Dockyards expanded its Hyōgo operations with a large dry dock, completed in 1902. This dry dock is now listed as an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government. In 1906, after numerous technical difficulties, Kawasaki completed the first submarines made in Japan for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Kawasaki produced numerous warships for the Japanese navy, ranging from destroyers to aircraft carriers until the end of World War II. [ Spang, Japanese-German Relations. p. 45]

Kawasaki started manufacturing rolling stock in 1907, and 4 years later produced its first steam locomotive, for the Japanese Ministry of Railways. Kawasaki manufactured 3,237 steam locomotives in total until 1971. This division was spun off in 1928 and incorporated as Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company.

In 1918, an Aircraft Division was established at the Hyōgo Works, only 15 years after the Wright brothers first flight. Kawasaki went on to build numerous innovative designs for the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy air services prior to World War II. In 1937, the Aircraft Division was spun off and incorporated as Kawasaki Aircraft Co., Ltd.

In 1969, Kawasaki Dockyard, Kawasaki Rolling Stock Manufacturing and Kawasaki Aircraft merged to become Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

However, in 2002, Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation reemerged as a wholly-owned subsidiary company.

Products

*Oil Tankers
*LNG carriers
*Bulk carriers
*Container Ships
*Ro/Ro Vessels
*Jetfoils
*Warships
*Marine steam turbines
*Marine diesel engines
*Marine Thrusters
*Ship Control Systems

Reference

*cite book
last = Hane
first = Mikiso
year = 2001
title = Modern Japan: A Historical Survey
publisher = Westview Press
location =
id = ISBN 0813337569
*cite book
last = McCain
first = James L
year = 2001
title = Japan: A Modern History
publisher = W. W. Norton & Company
location =
id = ISBN 0393041565
*cite book
last = Schencking
first = J. Charles
year = 2005
title = Making Waves: Politics, Propaganda, And The Emergence Of The Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1922
publisher = Stanford University Press
location =
id = ISBN 0-8047-4977-9
*cite book
last = Spang
first = Christian W
year = 2006
title = Japanese-German Relations, 1895-1945 War and Diplomacy
publisher = Routledge
location =
id = ISBN 0415342481

External links

* [http://www.kawasakizosen.co.jp/english/index.html Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation]

Notes