The new scheme is part of the Japanese government’s efforts to increase the country’s annual exports of agricultural.

Japan’s container trade is estimated to have risen 1.9 percent year-over-year to 11.9 million TEU in fiscal 2016.

The effort is aimed at alleviating landside congestion issues that have been a key contributor to the shift of traffic to privately-operated minor terminals.

Container traffic at Japanese ports sank for the first time in six years.

Japan’s implementation of the SOLAS container weight rule appears to have gotten off to a smooth start.

All but one of Japan’s five biggest ports posted negative traffic results in 2015 amid growing economic uncertainty both at home and abroad, with only the Port of Kobe weathering the storm well enough to eke out growth.

A Nittsu Research Institute and Consulting Inc. report predicts that Japan’s container throughput will contract 3.4 percent year-over-year in fiscal 2015 and grow just 1.3 percent in fiscal 2016, which begins April 1, due to weakness in China's economy.

Japan’s five biggest ports posted mixed international container traffic results in 2014 amid turbulent economic conditions at home and in some of the nation’s main export markets, with four ports weathering the storm, while one failed to do so.

Japan’s five biggest ports saw their international container traffic grow moderately in the first three quarters of 2014

From the top to the bottom, here is a list of the ports that moved up in 2013, and those that are in danger of falling down — or even off — the list of the Top 50 World Container Ports.

The number of foreign trade containers handled by the Port of Nagoya in central Japan rose 1.5 percent in 2013 from a year earlier to 2.530 million TEUs...

The number of foreign trade containers handled by the Port of Nagoya in central Japan edged up 0.8 percent in the first half of this year from a year earlier to 1.226 million 20-foot equivalent units, according to preliminary figures released by the Nagoya municipal government.

The number of foreign trade containers handled by the Port of Nagoya in central Japan edged up 0.8 percent in 2012 from a year earlier to 2.492 million 20-foot equivalent units, according to preliminary figures released by the Nagoya municipal government.