In 2012, the OECD Shipbuilding Committee introduced a Peer Review process to examine government policies and support measures affecting the shipbuilding industry. This process involves in-depth reviews of the shipbuilding sectors of participating economies and provides a structured platform for sharing experiences, promoting transparency, and identifying practices that shape competitiveness in the global shipbuilding market. While primarily focused on Shipbuilding Committee members, the process also welcomes participation from non-member economies, either as observers or as subjects of review. The Peer Reviews combine policy analysis with detailed industry context and are enriched through active discussion and feedback among Committee participants.
In 2024 and 2025, Japan is subject to an ad hoc Peer Review, following earlier reviews of Japan (2012), Portugal (2013), Korea (2014), Germany (2015), Norway (2016), Finland (2017), the Netherlands (2019), Türkiye (2021), several EU member states including Croatia, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Romania (2023), the Philippines (2025) and the United Kingdon (2025).
The main goal of the peer review process was to identify government policies, practices, and measures affecting the shipbuilding sector. However, given the increased transparency of support measures under the new Inventory procedure, the members agreed at the April 2022 meeting that peer reviews from 2024 onwards would focus on industry and market topics. In this context, Japan’s second peer review focuses on these industry and market dynamics, reflecting the rapidly evolving global landscape and policy environment.
This report is based on multiple sources, including publicly available data, statistical series accessible to the Secretariat, Japan’s official response to the Peer Review questionnaire, and stakeholder consultations conducted during the OECD’s fact-finding mission to Japan in December 2024, as well as consultations with selected stakeholders and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan.
The report provides a timely and comprehensive assessment of the shipbuilding sector in Japan. It primarily covers shipbuilding and marine equipment manufacturing in Japan. The report is structured in three parts:
1. a global perspective to situate the Japanese shipbuilding industry within international market trends;
2. a detailed overview of the structure and characteristics of the Japanese maritime industry; and
3. an assessment of its competitiveness, including a SWOT analysis and a comparative analysis between Japan and Korea.