In February 2026, a delegation from Hiroshima University (HU) took a tour of the geotechnical survey vessel POSEIDON-1 at Kure Port. This vessel is owned by Fukada Salvage & Marine Works Co., Ltd., a member of the Promotion Council for the Marine Culture City of Kure.

(For more information on this vessel, please refer to the introduction page of POSEIDON-1 on the Fukada Salvage website: https://www.fukasal.co.jp/ship.html#section3 )

The tour was held in conjunction with a visit to Kure City by Prof. Henning Jessen, who was invited to HU from the World Maritime University. A group of seven participants, including Specially Appointed Professor Hirokazu Yamamoto of the Research Institute for Ocean and Maritime Futures and Associate Professor Jie Lou of the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, toured the survey vessel, which weighs a total of 4,270 tons.

During the tour, participants observed advanced systems capable of precisely maintaining the vessel’s position at sea without the use of anchors, as well as specialized equipment designed for drilling and investigating seabed ground conditions in deep-sea environments. These technologies and the vessel’s operational capabilities provided a vivid impression of the cutting edge of marine development.

All participants came away with a strong sense that, as the utilization of marine resources and the development of offshore energy continue to advance, Fukada Salvage’s expertise and practical capabilities in marine environmental surveys will further increase in social value in the years ahead.