Southwest Japan’s Challenges: Global Wave / Kitakyushu Draws Attention as New Logistics Hub; Land, Sea, Air Network Offers Multiple Shipping Routes

By Yo Nakanishi and Kengo Umeno / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:55 JST, March 12, 2025

This is the fourth installment of a series that follows the waves of change taking place in Kyushu and nearby Yamaguchi and Okinawa prefectures ahead of 2050.

KITAKYUSHU — A brand-new large-scale logistics facility stands out in the Nishiminato district, an industrial area where factories and warehouses are lined up about 3 kilometers northwest of JR Kokura Station in Kitakyushu.

At the beginning of January, forklifts moved among the high piles of cargo inside the facility. One by one, they transferred the cargo to trucks.

Tobata Butsuryu, a local logistics company, invested about ¥8 billion to put its facility into operation last October.

The two-story steel-framed facility, with a total floor area of 46,000 square meters, is the largest scale facility of its kind in the city.

The company will use the first floor for its operations. Tobata Butsuryu is currently negotiating a contract with a major manufacturer to lease the second floor.

“I hope this facility will trigger a reevaluation of Kitakyushu’s potential as a logistics base,” said President Shogo Hyuga, 75, as he watched the work in progress.

A strong tailwind was provided by the so-called “2024 problem” in freight distribution, in which businesses were worried about a shortage of long-haul truckers that would reduce carrying capacity.

Most of the distribution centers in Kyushu are located in Tosu, Saga Prefecture, and the suburbs of Fukuoka.

However, since the limit on working hours for long-distance drivers was tightened in April 2024, it has been noted that the areas where goods can be transported to at one time were limited, making deliveries to Hiroshima and Shimane prefectures more difficult.

“We can cover all of Kyushu and the western part of the Chugoku region from our logistics base in Kitakyushu,” Hyuga said.

There has been a growing movement to establish logistics bases in Kitakyushu, and the city has received many inquiries asking if there is available land with an area of 3.3 hectares.

“I never thought a time like this would come,” said Hiroyoshi Yamaguchi, the chief executive at the city’s industry and economics bureau.

In addition, an interchange for the new Shimonoseki-Kitakyushu Road, which will include a new giant bridge connecting Honshu and Kyushu, will be built in the Nishiminato area.

The price of the surrounding land is said to have skyrocketed to about double what it was 10 years ago. The Shimonoseki-Kitakyushu Road is expected to be completed in the 2030s, bringing a wave of change to western Japan.

Winter era of ‘iron city’

Kitakyushu flourished as an “iron city” that supported modernization before World War II, when the state-owned Yahata Steel Works began operations in 1901. It used to be one of the four major industrial zones with a population of more than 1 million.

However, the iron city’s winter continued from the 1970s onward. The presence of manufacturing companies diminished as they shifted their bases overseas in search of cheaper labor costs.

The closure of factories by Toshiba Corp. and other firms, and the exodus of people, also weighed heavily on the population.

Kitakyushu is said to have a serious problem with an aging population and vacant houses. Its image has been worsened by a number of incidents involving yakuza organized crime groups. The current population is about 910,000.

Land, sea and air network

Kitakyushu is now attracting more attention as a logistics hub outside of the overland route.

In mid-January, a special plane with the corporate logo of U.S. logistics giant UPS on the tail landed at Kitakyushu Airport. UPS began international cargo business to and from Kitakyushu Airport in February 2023.

The company operates five weekly flights to transport cargo to more than 200 countries and regions, including various parts of Asia, Europe and the United States, via Kansai International Airport.

According to UPS Japan Co., it can load cargo onto a cargo plane on the day of pickup at the earliest if the pickup area is in in Fukuoka or Kumamoto, and deliver it to Asia or the United States the next day, or to Europe two days later.

Kitakyushu Airport, which is located next to the sea, is the only 24-hour airport in Kyushu.

“Kitakyushu Airport is flexible in its airport operations and has excellent highway connections,” said UPS Japan President Makoto Kato. “As a logistics hub airport, it is highly competitive in Asia.”

When the airport’s runway is extended by 500 meters to 3,000 meters in 2027, large cargo planes will be able to take off with full fuel loads, enabling direct flights to Europe.

Kitakyushu ranks second in Japan in terms of ferry cargo volume, as the Kanmon Strait connects the Sea of Japan, the Pacific Ocean and the Seto Inland Sea.

“No other city has such a complete land, sea and air network, and this will be a major weapon to revive Kitakyushu,” the city’s Yamaguchi said.

Competition for air cargo is intensifying. In March last year, All Nippon Airways operated its first large cargo plane at Aso Kumamoto Airport.

The airline is aiming for regular flights in the future due to the expected demand for semiconductor-related products. It will be necessary to overcome this intercity competition to gain control of Kyushu’s airspace.

Attracting production

As the potential of logistics is being reevaluated, many companies are announcing plans for large-scale investments, including the construction of new factories.

In January, Nissan Motor Co. announced that it will build an electric vehicle battery plant in Kitakyushu. The total investment will be about ¥150 billion, with the aim of starting production in fiscal year 2028. Toyota Motor Corp. also intends to build a battery plant near Kitakyushu Airport.

Taiwan’s ASE Group, the world’s largest supplier of semiconductor back-end manufacturing services, last year announced plans to purchase land in the city to build a plant.

In 2024, the number of people moving into the city exceeded the number of people moving out for the first time in 60 years, and there are signs of a bottoming out of the local economic slump.

“Manufacturing and logistics are inseparable. In Kitakyushu, the enhanced logistics functions are creating a synergistic effect that is attracting production bases,” said Kenichi Ito, the associate director of the Fukuoka branch of CBRE Japan, a major real estate services firm. “To maintain this virtuous cycle, securing land and human resources is an issue for the future.”