The government on Tuesday unveiled Japan's largest oil-recovery vessel, ordered by the Transport Ministry in the wake of a huge oil spill on the Sea of Japan coast three years ago.
The 4,663-ton Kaisho Maru, displayed at Tokyo Harbor, is part of a planned three-vessel oil-spill control task force that the ministry hopes will provide a speedy response in the event of an oil spill in Japanese coastal waters.
The Transport Ministry has only one other vessel designed specifically to recover oil spilled at sea. The third, a 3,500-ton-class oil-recovery vessel, now under construction, is expected to be completed by autumn 2002.