TOKYO -- Japans's three largest maritime shipping companies are defying a slowdown in global trade, and are expected to report higher earnings due to a reduction in unprofitable routes and a temporarily lowering of capacity before stricter environmental regulations kick in next year.
Nippon Yusen, is expected to post a pretax profit of around 6 billion yen ($55.2 million) in the April-June quarter, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha appears to have earned between 2 billion and 4 billion yen in profit. This would be the first recovery to black ink by both for that quarter in two years.
