Hitachi Zosen Corporation

Hitachi Zosen Corporation
日立造船株式会社
	Heavy Industry
Founded	1881; 143 years ago
Founder	Edward H. Hunter
Headquarters	Osaka, Japan
Website	http://www.hitachizosen.co.jp/

Hitachi Zosen Corporation (日立造船株式会社, Hitachi Zōsen Kabushiki-kaisha) is a major Japanese industrial and engineering corporation. It produces

power plants. Despite its name, Hitachi Zosen, of which the last word literally means shipbuilding, no longer builds ships, having spun off the business to Universal Shipbuilding Corporation in 2002, nor is it a keiretsu company of Hitachi

any longer.

History

Hitachi Zōsen's origins go back to April 1, 1881, when British entrepreneur Edward H. Hunter established Osaka Iron Works (大阪鉄工所, Ōsaka Tekkosho) in Osaka to develop the Japanese steel-making and shipbuilding industry. Hunter had come to Japan in 1865 and had established the Onohama Shipyard in Kobe before moving to Osaka and establishing a new shipyard at the junction of the Nakatsu and Aki rivers which could construct ships of under 1000 tons displacement. His first vessel, the Hatsumaru was launched in 1882.^[1] Hunter intended to build a company which was completely self-sufficient, and also produced engines, boilers, bridges and irrigation equipment.

An additional facility was established downstream on the Aji river at Sakurajima in 1900 to handle construction of vessels larger than 1000 tons. The first

Standard Oil Company.^[2]

Another shipyard was constructed at

hydroelectric power plants in 1924.^[3]

The company was re-organized in 1934, coming under the overall control of the Nissan zaibatsu, and was renamed as K.K. Nihon Sangyō Osaka Tekkoshō.^[4]

While most of the lucrative contracts for naval warships for the

Kanagawa

and acquiring the existing Mukaishima shipyard in 1943. It also changed its name to Hitachi Zosen Corporation in 1943.

After the

computer assisted design

and modular, automated construction techniques. Hitachi acquired another shipyard, Maizuru Heavy Industries, in 1971 and opened a new shipyard at Ariake in Kyushu in 1973.

However, the global oil crisis of 1973 with its consequent reduction in ship demand resulted in financial difficulties for the company. Hitachi Zōsen, with over 50% of its revenues from ships was hard hit by the cancellation in orders for

supertankers and attempted to survive by turning to oil rigs, oil storage facilities, and steel structures, pipes and bridges. However, with rising material costs and losses due to fixed price contracts, high overhead and redundant facilities meant that the company had to restructure from the 1980s. By 1988, the company employed only 5,596 workers, down from 24,660 ten years earlier.^[6]

The company also made strong efforts to diversify away from the shipbuilding roots, expanding especially into

Universal Shipbuilding Corporation (now called Japan Marine United

).

In March 2021, Hitachi Zosen unveiled a solid-state battery with a capacity of 1000mAh, which the company reckoned is the world's highest in its kind.^[7]

In February 2024, Japanese Secretary of State Yoko Kamikawa stated that a recent decision by the South Korean government to authorize the transfer of money from Hitatchi Zosen to a South Korean plaintiff who sued for compensation based on the issue of labor from the era of Japan's 1910 to 1945 colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula left the company at an "unreasonable disadvantage."^[8] The compensation payment was based on a ruling from the South Korean Supreme Court in December 2023.^[8]

Notes

^ Lindberg. Brown-, Green- and Blue-Water Fleets. page 78
^ Pederson. International Directory of Company Histories
^ Pederson. International Directory of Company Histories
^ Inkster. Japanese Industrialisation. Page 124.
^ Organizational Structure Shunko Konwa-kai
^ Pederson. International Directory of Company Histories
^ "'World's highest-capacity' solid-state battery developed in Japan". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
^ ^a ^b "Japan, South Korea agree to work on North Korea issues". Kyodo News. February 22, 2024. Retrieved February 22, 2024.