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Category: Japan

ANA service to Istanbul and expanded partnership with Turkish would need balance with Lufthansa

Asian airlines are expanding partnerships and collaboration with new hubs. Following Singapore Airlines’ expanded partnership with Turkish Airlines and Cathay Pacific’s with Qatar Airways, All Nippon Airways – now Japan’s largest international carrier – is likely to open a service from Tokyo to Istanbul and deepen its partnership with fellow Star carrier Turkish Airlines. This would be the first Japanese service to Turkey, complementing those from other Asian countries including Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. It would also be the first strategic partnership between a Japanese carrier and an airline from a new hub in Turkey/the Gulf.

The rationale is clean cut. Turkey has become a popular tourist point for Japanese passengers, who would pay a premium to fly on a Japanese carrier to Istanbul. ANA can use Istanbul to open new destinations in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa that it and competitor Japan Airlines cannot reach but Middle East Gulf carriers can.

ANA’s challenge is tapping these new markets while sustaining its important relationship with the Lufthansa Group, whose seven daily flights to Japan are under a JV with ANA. An expanded Turkish Airlines partnership would have sensitivity in its overlap with Lufthansa, which has recently very publicly terminated most of its cooperation with Turkish as the fast growing “fourth Gulf airline” increasingly challenged its hub role.

via ANA service to Istanbul and expanded partnership with Turkish would need balance with Lufthansa | CAPA – Centre for Aviation.

June 13, 2014
Turkey selects Japan to build nuclear plant

Japan has learned from the Fukushima disaster and will offer technology with the highest safety standards while building Turkey’s second nuclear plant, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today.

Turkey chose a Japanese-French partnership for the construction of a nuclear reactor on its Black Sea coast and a nuclear cooperation agreement was signed during Abe’s visit to Ankara.

Despite being prone to earthquakes, energy-dependent Turkey declared in the wake of the Fukushima incident that it would stand firmly by plans to build three nuclear power plants.

A powerful earthquake and tsunami off Japan’s northeastern coast knocked out vital cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in 2011, causing multiple meltdowns and setting off the worst nuclear catastrophe since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

Turkey’s Energy Ministry said the country decided to begin technical negotiations with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and France’s Areva, after companies from South Korea, China and Canada withdrew or were eliminated from the bid.

The 5000-megawatt capacity plant is expected to cost US$22 billion and be operational in 2023.

Russia will construct Turkey’s first plant in Akkuyu, on the Mediterranean coast. It is scheduled to begin test production in 2019.

In constructing the second plant, “we are going to use first-class technology,” Abe said. “We have carried our experience in nuclear safety to the highest level through lessons learned from past accidents and risks.”

“We will share our experience with Turkey,” he added. “We have raised standards, lifting us to the highest ranks in terms of nuclear safety.”

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said under the cooperation deal with Japan, Japanese experts also would work with Turkish engineers in selecting the site of a third nuclear plant.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country was a rapidly developing nation that was forced to diversify energy resources. He has repeatedly downplayed nuclear risks.

“There may be a one in a million risk but that does not mean we can’t take a step,” Erdogan said. “We still take planes even if they crash, we still ride cars even if there are road accidents.”

– AP

via Turkey Nuclear Plant | Turkey tab Japan to build… | Stuff.co.nz.

May 4, 2013
Turkey accepts Tokyo’s apology on Istanbul’s Olympic bid

ANKARA, May 1 (Xinhua) — Turkey’s sports minister has accepted the apology from the governor of Tokyo for criticizing Istanbul’s bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Turkish Youth and Sports Minister Suat Kilic said on Wednesday “we now wish for a friendly competition between the candidate cities abiding by the criteria established by the International Olympic Committee.”

Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose apologized Tuesday after he said “Islamic countries, the only thing they share in common is Allah and they are fighting with each other” in an interview by the New York Times.

His controversial remarks soon prompted criticism in Turkey and the International Olympic Committee.

Tokyo is competing with Istanbul and Madrid to hold the Olympics for a second time after becoming the first Asian city to host the Games in 1964. Istanbul is bidding for a fifth time after its previous campaigns were unsuccessful.

The hosts for the 2020 Games will be decided at the next IOC Session in Argentina in September.

Editor: yan

via Turkey accepts Tokyo’s apology on Istanbul’s Olympic bid – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

May 2, 2013
Turkey denies French-Japanese JV win nuke bid

Turkey declined reports on Thursday that a French-Japanese consortium has won a tender to build the country’s second nuclear power plant, asserting it was “too early to comment.”

Japan’s Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday that the Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and France’s Areva SA have won an order to build Turkey’s second nuclear power plant, a project expected to cost around $22 billion. Representatives from Areva and Mitsubishi Heavy were unavailable immediately to comment, but Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz rushed in on Thursday to deny that such a deal existed.

“It is too early to make such comments. … We cannot yet say the race for [who will build] our second nuclear power plant is over,” Yildiz told a private news channel on Thursday.

Turkey has been in negotiations with South Korea, China, Japan and Canada for the construction of a second nuclear power plant in the Black Sea province of Sinop. An agreement was reached with Russia in 2010 to build the first plant in Mersin’s Akkuyu district.

Reiterating the Turkish government’s reluctance to offer a state guarantee for the nuclear project’s financing, Yildiz said South Korea was eliminated due to this condition, while more focused talks continued with Japan and China. “I think we are now closer to finalizing the talks with these two countries than ever,” said the energy minister.

This is not the first time Turkey has insisted on “risk sharing” in the months-long Sinop nuclear bid. Observers argued Yildiz’s statements were meant to further heat up competition between the bidders so that they would agree to relatively more favorable terms.

Ongoing rapprochement between Ankara and Paris as the latter decided to lift its block on Turkey’s EU accession negotiations along with improving ties with Japan remains a key factor in the alleged nuclear deal.

Nikkei on Thursday said Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources had informed Japanese government and corporate officials of the decision to award them a deal to build four pressurized water nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of about 4.5 gigawatts in Sinop, a province on the Black Sea coast.

The paper added that the Turkish government had approached Japan about a summit meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in early May, after which it is likely to officially grant preferred negotiating rights to the Mitsubishi-Areva consortium. It added construction is set to start in 2017, with the first reactor slated to come online by 2023, and France’s GDF Suez SA will operate the plant.

Energy-poor Turkey aims to have three nuclear power plants, all of them operational by 2023, its centennial. It is anticipated to overtake Britain as Europe’s third-biggest electricity consumer within a decade.

Meanwhile, Yildiz on Thursday asserted the government will stick with plans to increase oil trade with Iraq’s north while a possible natural gas pipeline from Israel to flow through Turkey into world markets was “on the table.” “All countries in this region are aware Turkey is the key, most feasible corridor for similar energy transfer projects.”

via Turkey denies French-Japanese JV win nuke bid.

April 7, 2013
Japan, France firms to build Turkey nuclear plant: report – The Economic Times

TOKYO: Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and France’s ArevaBSE 0.27 % are expected to win a $22 billion contract to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey, a newspaper said Thursday.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and France’s Areva are expected to win a $22 billion contract to build a nuclear power plant in Turkey.

Turkey’s energy and natural resources ministry held talks with Japanese government and company officials in Ankara on Wednesday and told them of its readiness to place the order from the two firms, the Nikkei business daily said.

Under the expected order, Mitsubishi and Areva will build four pressurised water reactors with a combined output of 4.5 million kilowatts in Sinop on the Black Sea, the newspaper said.

Construction of the country’s second nuclear power plant is to begin in 2017, with the first reactor coming on line by 2023, it said.

France’s GDF Suez will operate the facility while a joint venture involving Japanese and Turkish companies will sell the power to local utilities, it added.

A Mitsubishi Heavy spokesman declined to confirm the report.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan may meet in Turkey in early May with plans to agree on the promotion of nuclear reactor construction, Nikkei said.

After the two governments sign the agreement, preferred negotiation rights will be officially awarded to the Mitsubishi-Areva alliance, the daily said.

Japanese, Chinese, South Korean and Canadian nuclear reactor makers had been competing for the project, but Turkey appeared to have given high marks to the Japanese team’s technological prowess, reliability and price, it said.

The deal marks Japan’s first successful public-private bid for an overseas nuclear plant project since its 2011 nuclear disaster and could build momentum for further nuclear technology exports, it said.

A huge tsunami crippled cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, sending reactors into meltdown, spewing radioactive materials into surrounding areas.

via Japan, France firms to build Turkey nuclear plant: report – The Economic Times.

April 5, 2013
Japanese companies join forces for Istanbul bridge

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Only days after a failed government tender for the construction and operating rights of a large toll road and a third bridge over Istanbul’s Bosphorus, Japanese candidates decide to set up a consortium to re-try their chances

Fatih Sultan Bridge over the Bosphorus is seen in this undated photo. Turkey is seeking investors to build a third bridge to connect two sides of Istanbul.

Gökhan Kurtaran
gokhan.kurtaran@tdn.com.tr

Four Japanese firms are still interested in building a third bridge over Istanbul’s Bosphorus following the failed tender by the Turkish government Jan. 10, according to a Japanese diplomat.

“Japanese companies are still showing their interests to join the construction of the third bridge,” Yasuhiro Fukuda, trade attaché from Japanese Embassy in Ankara, told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview yesterday.

Mitsubishi, IHI, Obayashi and Itochu, the companies that were authorized to but did not attend the tender, along with five more foreign and nine local competitors, were still willing to take their chances and restart the talks with the government, according to the Japanese official.

“They are open to talks on the details of the project with the government officials,” said Yasuhiro.

The cost of the highway road project that stretches from Adapazarı to Tekirdağ in Turkey’s northwest, which also includes a third bridge over Istanbul’s Bosphorus, was estimated at $6 billion.

“The project is too big to finance,” general manager of one of the Japanese firms told the Daily News under the condition of anonymity yesterday by phone. Both construction and operating rights of the third bridge and the highway should be divided and introduced as two tenders, which would ease financing, the source said.

“A smaller scale would make the project feasible and profitable for us,” the source said, adding that Japanese firms were preparing to start the talks with Turkey. “Any action plan including some incentives from Turkish government would be appreciated by us,” said the executive.

Talks may start soon

Despite the failure of the tender, Fukuda said this shouldn’t be taken as a sign that the Japanese firms are losing their interest in the project. Bilateral talks between a possible Japanese consortium and the Turkish government was possible soon, he added. Turkey’s Finance Minister Mehmet Şimsek said Jan. 11 the state was capable of funding the project on its own, but preferred not to.

The government offers 25-year operating rights for the toll road project which spans 414 km.

Cengiz, Gülsan, Kolin, STFA, Mapa, Nural, Park, Holding, Varyap and Yüksel were the possible local bidders. In addition to the Japanese firms, Stradag from Austria; Moskovskly Metrostroy, NPO and Mostovik from Russia; FFC Construction from Spain; and Astaldi from Italy also received specifications for the tender.

via BUSINESS – Japanese companies join forces for Istanbul bridge.

January 20, 2012