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Toyota Tsusho Corporation (‘Toyota Tsusho’) announced today that it has taken over an oceanographic and fishery research vessel, contracted by the National Fisheries Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests of the Kingdom of Morocco (‘Morocco’), in Tamano City, Okayama Prefecture. Toyota Tsusho is assigned to deliver the research vessel from Japan to the port of Agadir, Morocco. The research vessel is expected to be operational in oceanographic and fishery research from April 2021.
The project of the research vessel was awarded to Toyota Tsusho in September 2018 with joint effort of its group company CFAO. The vessel was built by Mitsui E&S Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in its Tamano Works. The project was financed by JICA yen loan through its Special Terms for Economic Partnership (STEP), the first-ever financing scheme of this kind for Morocco at that time.
Fisheries is Morocco’s leading export industry after automobile manufacturing and phosphate mining. With its aging research vessels and shortage of research facilities, the country faced the need for new research vessels. The newly built research vessel is equipped with features that curb noise and vibration from the vessel during navigation, dramatically improving the accuracy in fish detection using sonic waves. It is also capable of deep-sea marine life and environment research, in addition to conventional oceanographic and fisheries research. This enables the development of an ecosystem-based evaluation system integrating marine environment and interrelationships among marine life, as well as research into sustainable development and use of deep-sea fisheries products.
Oceanographic and Fishery Research Vessel Toyota Tsusho acquired CFAO as a wholly owned subsidiary in December 2016. Establishment of the new Africa Division in April 2017 was followed by creation of the Infrastructure Division at CFAO in April 2018, accelerating initiatives for joint development of energy and infrastructure projects, including electric power and ports, in Africa. With this project completion, Toyota Tsusho intends to develop logistics infrastructure projects further such as the marine port project in the Republic of Angola, and move forward with initiatives that foster future industrial development and sustainable economic growth in Africa.
