Nippon Yusen K.K., Japan's second-largest operator of dry-bulk ships, plans to more than triple its fleet of capesize vessels serving India because of demand for coal and iron ore in the world's fastest-growing major steel market.
The shipping line expects to have 15 capesizes, so named because they are too big for the Panama or Suez canals, hauling the commodities to India by 2015, close to the fleet size currently serving China, Kazuo Ogasawara, general manager of its bulker group, said recently in Tokyo.
The company plans to expand its total capesize fleet to 120 from 95 by sometime between 2012 and 2013.