Philosophy
OUR MISSION
Through logistics,we enrich the world.
To deliver is to connect. By carrying goods across the seas, we connect lives around the world. That is our mission.
Across the seas, people are waiting for what we deliver. Factories waiting for steel, homes waiting for energy, towns waiting for cars. Each cargo we carry supports someone's life, moves society and shapes the future.
1946 — FOUNDING
Daiichi Hokoku-maru,where it all began.
In 1946, our founder Kuniyoshi Hirai started a shipping business as a sole proprietor. He bought a 100-ton secondhand wooden vessel, built the engine himself — he ran an ironworks at the time — and fitted it to the ship. That single vessel, named Daiichi Hokoku-maru, set out on Hirai Line's very first voyage.
From the upheaval of post-war Japan, a small voyage set out from the port of Oita. Kuniyoshi's determination — to set a ship in motion even if it meant building the engine with his own hands — still runs at the heart of our company eighty years on.
OUR ROLE
What we value most
is people.
Inside the company and out, including our partners — we have been fortunate to work alongside truly remarkable people. Once a relationship begins, it grows into a partnership of decades, often opening the door to entirely new business.
Trust is born face-to-face. Confidence deepens over years of working together. People gather around us, and from there, the next opportunity takes shape. To remain that kind of place — that is our wish.
WHERE WE ARE HEADED
Sustainable growth,needed by society.
We aim to be a company that keeps growing — one that contributes to society and continues to be needed by it.
Not big and flashy, but lasting and certain. Built on the trust earned across four generations, we will continue to be a company chosen by customers and by society — for the generations to come.
"Growth and stable management, together — that is my mission."
We are proud to be in the shipping business — supporting lives and livelihoods — in a Japan surrounded by sea, where over 99% of trade by volume travels across the water.
Since our founding in 1946, we have steadily expanded our scope as a shipping company. In recent years we have taken on new cargo such as biomass, and we engage actively with global challenges including decarbonization. To remain a corporate group that contributes to society, is needed by it, and achieves sustainable growth — that is my unwavering conviction.
- 2005Graduated from Oita Prefectural Oita Maizuru High School (Science Course)
- 2009Graduated from Meiji University, School of Science and Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- 2011Completed Master's Program in Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Meiji University
- 2011 — 2017MOL Coastal Shipping, Ltd. (now MOL Drybulk, Ltd.)Import Sales (3 yrs) · Heavy-lift Export Sales (2 yrs) · Finance & Accounting (1 yr) — 6 years total
- 2017Joined Hirai Line Co., Ltd.
- 2022Appointed President & CEO, Hirai Line Co., Ltd.
CONTACT · Get in touch
Set sailwith us.
Chartering, newbuilding plans, careers and other inquiries — please feel free to reach out.