■Iino Kaiun ＜9119 ＞ Growth Strategy
3. sustainability management
As part of sustainability management, we are working to further strengthen human capital and respond to respect human rights. In strengthening human capital, we promote strategies that draw out human resource investment and value, such as improving workplaces and working environments, securing diverse human resources, strengthening human resource development and reskilling, providing opportunities to discover abilities, and reflecting in performance evaluation/treatment, etc., and aim to establish a virtuous cycle where the company and employees grow together. Furthermore, the “Iino Shipping Group Basic Sustainability Policy” was formulated in 2024/3, and policies have been set out to accelerate initiatives related to sustainability.
As the main KPIs for strengthening human capital, childcare leave acquisition rate (2025 target 100%, 2023 results 83%, same order below), ratio of women in general positions (management candidates) (20%, 17.68%), and people who have experienced short-term overseas training/overseas residency (cumulative target 75 people at the end of 2025, cumulative results at the end of fiscal year 2023) have been set.
In response to respect for human rights, the Iino Shipping Group has formulated the Iino Shipping Group Human Rights Policy. During the medium-term management plan period, human rights due diligence (human rights DD) will be continuously implemented, and procurement policies/supplier codes of conduct (formulated in 2023/5), certification of sustainability evaluation agencies will be obtained, external reporting windows will be established, and internal human rights education and training will be promoted. Furthermore, it is a policy to establish a human rights response system that includes a supply chain and strengthen efforts to respect human rights. The attendance rate for human rights training (2023-2025 100%, 2023 performance 78.7%) was set as the main KPI relating to human rights responses.
Also, in DX promotion, the IINO DX Task Force was reorganized, and the DX Promotion Department was established in 2023/6. As an independent organization with dedicated personnel, DX promotion is carried out while cooperating with internal and external stakeholders, aiming for business transformation to improve the quality of ship/building management (provision of safety and security), ESG promotion support, and enhance competitiveness. Furthermore, in 2022/5, it was decided to appoint Plug and Play, which is the world's largest accelerator (company or program that promotes business growth) based in Silicon Valley in the United States, in order to strengthen collaboration with startups. In 2023/10, an AI delivery plan preparation program (Crew Matrix Planning) developed in a collaborative project with Singaporean technology startup GreyWing was introduced. Greywing was selected in cooperation with Plug and Play to automate the crew flight plan preparation process, and the AI flight plan preparation program was completed in about 9 months from concept. By introducing this program, the workload of the ship management department will be reduced, and resources will be reallocated to projects, etc. with higher economic added value from the expertise possessed by marine engineers.
In strengthening corporate governance, the number of female outside directors was increased by 1 in 2023/6 as an effort to ensure the independence and diversity of the Board of Directors, bringing the ratio of outside directors to 50.0% and the ratio of female directors to 25.0%.
Such active efforts in ESG and SDGs management and efforts to improve financial conditions were evaluated, and in 2023/7, they were selected as constituent stocks of the ESG index “FTSE Blossom Japan Index” and “FTSE Blossom Japan Sector Relative Index” constructed by FTSE Russell, which is a group company of the London Stock Exchange, following the previous year. It was selected as a constituent stock of the “JPX-Nikkei Small and Medium Cap Index” in August of the same year. In 2024/4, in the sustainable evaluation of EcoVadis, which is an international evaluation organization, it obtained a score ranked in the top 17% of all companies examined, and a bronze rating (within the top 35%) was obtained. Also, in the same month, ratings by the Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) were upgraded from “BBB+ (positive)” to “A- (stable),” and ratings by the Rating Investment Information Center (R&I) were upgraded from “BBB (positive)” to “BBB+ (stable)”.
(Author: FISCO Visiting Analyst Masashi Mizuta Exhibition)