KUSHIRO, Hokkaido (Kyodo) The past decade has seen a drastic reduction in Russian ships calling at ports in Hokkaido, where much of Russia's marine produce is imported, while ships registered to other countries, including Cambodia, have risen sharply.
In fact, three times as many Cambodian vessels are calling at some ports than Russian ships are, but many of their crewmen are thought to be Russian. Shipping sources said the reason behind the trend is Russian ship owners changing registries to avoid taxes.
According to Finance Ministry data, Hokkaido ports had 9,200 Russian ship calls in 1999, but only 1,400 in 2008. Ships with other registries rose about 1.6 times in the period, with Cambodian ships expanding 10-fold from 190 to about 1,900.