Business View Magazine | April 2019

132 (Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier) ser- vice specializing in tank containers, so-called ‘one-way business,’” explains David Hiromura, President of NRSA. “At that time, we were a solely domestic Japanese chemical logistics company with no foreign presence. We part- nered with an international Japanese freight forwarder who handled our export cargoes understanding that they would find return cargo to get our tanks back to Japan. That did not work out very well because they didn’t find much return cargo, so in the late ‘80s, our management determined that we needed to establish our own global network.” “I was hired in Tokyo In 1989 to help with that process,” Hiromura continues. “After working for a year in Tokyo, I was transferred to New York City and opened the NRSA office in May, 1990, the first overseas company in the NRS Group. Our international growth proceeded apace in August 1990, with the acquisition of Interflow (TCS) Ltd. Based in the UK, they are the oldest, dedicated tank container operator. With the imminent formation of the EU under the Maastricht Treaty, the consensus was that a community-wide transportation network would be essential to do business in the EU, so the purchase of Interflow gave us our network in one fell swoop. “In the U.S., the NRS Group has an Interflow office in Houston and the NRSA office in New NRS LOGISTICS