November 20, 2008 Chairman Yano's regular press conference

(Moderator)

Then we will start a regular conference.

(Chairman)

Hello everyone.

First is an overview of the business for October.
Fee revenue in October was minus 7.2% compared to the same month the year before. The breakdown is 8.0% for high speed and 0.4% for general pay. Expressway has a new menu from October 14th, "urgent comprehensive measures to realize peace of mind", Expressway has been affected by the price reduction, and the discount due to the spread of ETC Revenue decreased due to the increase in the amount. General pay increased slightly due to the spread of ETC, but sales increased slightly due to an increase in traffic on the road Isewangan Expressway due to Shin-Meishin Expressway service.
Passenger traffic was almost flat, down 0.2% year-on-year. The breakdown is high speed minus 0.8% and general pay plus 2.3%.
The ETC discount amount was 18.1 billion yen, an increase of 22.4% compared to 14.8 billion yen in the same month of the previous year. If we make a preliminary calculation that there was no ETC, fee income was 65.2 billion yen, and when compared on that basis, it was minus 0.5% compared to the same month of the previous year, and as a result, the ETC discount rate was 27.7%. I will. The discount rate for ETC has been around 25%, but it is higher due to the increase in the penetration rate of ETC.

The construction status is 10.4km between the Kisei Expressway Omiya Odai IC and the Kisei Ouchiyama IC, which we have been working on, but it is expected to be open on Saturday, February 7, next year. Details will be explained later.

Next is the use situation of ETC. Looking at the week starting from the latest November 7, the usage rate is 78.0%. It is steadily rising, with 79.4% on weekdays and 74.1% on holidays. As the number of setups is increasing, details are in the document.

It is the situation of SA, but it is 102.4% compared with the previous year. The breakdown is 104.3% for the food and drink department, 107.5% for the product sales department, 103.0% for the service department, and the gasoline department for 91.2%, and the advertising department has a small amount of 133.3%.
The above is the current status of the business.

Next, I will explain the topics in order.
First of all, Kisei Expressway was opened, which I touched on earlier. It will be open on Saturday, February 7, next year.
The initial plan was to open the service in March of the end of this fiscal year, but it is expected to be shortened by about two months. The total length is 10.4 km, but there are 7 tunnels at 6.4 km, 5 bridges at 1.2 km, and a typical mountain road with a structural ratio of 73%.
As you know, this area is one of the most rainy areas in Japan with an annual rainfall of over 2,500 mm, and National Highway 42, the only road connecting the coast of the Tokishu area, is often closed due to heavy rain. , It is expected to function as a new alternative route to prevent such isolation.
Approximately 70% of Kisei Expressway, which will be maintained by our company, will be completed at this opening, 24 km has been completed, and when using this opening section from Tsu to Owase, it will be compared with using National Route 42. , 10 minutes in time and 4km in mileage.
I mentioned the alternative road earlier, but it is often said as an alternative road to National Route 42 in times of emergency such as disasters, abnormal weather, emergency situations, traffic accidents, etc., but it plays a major role as a "road of life". I think it will go.
In addition, the access to Ise Jingu, one of Japan's leading tourist destinations, the Ise Shima area with Toba, and the Higashi Kishu area with the Kumano Kodo, a World Heritage site, will be improved, so I think it can contribute to the support of wide area tourism.
Along with this opening, Okuise PA will be opened between the front of Seiwa-Taki JCT and Omiya Odai IC, which is already open, on February 5th, 2 days before opening. I am. This is a parking lot for 22 small cars and 7 large cars, shops, and vending machines for both the up and down lines.
Now that I have given a general overview, I have attached related materials such as the benefits of tourism and logistics, so I would appreciate it if you could refer to it.
The opening of Kisei Expressway is a topic to be announced today.

The second topic, which we have already made public, will be the 4th Shin-Tomei Expressway Dream Road Roundtable on October 31st, and we will explain the results. I will give an explanation after the round-table conference on the 31st, but considering the future of our company, it is a very important business, so I will repeat, but I will explain.
Then, I will explain from the person in charge Gejima.

 

(Gejima TL)

This is Gejima construction business headquarters. We will explain according to the materials you have.
The first page is the date and time of the event and the attendees of our company. On the second page, there were 11 members, and 3 members were absent on the day, and 8 members participated. The 3rd page is the schedule of the roundtable, which is written in the document, but we started discussions at this roundtable in 2007, and last year we held 3 times and discussed about the overall direction last year. The situation is that you received it. Since this is the 4th time, we have reported on the examinations for the implementation of the services that will be started in each Shin-Tomei Expressway, and we received the opinions. In particular, we reported the current status of three points, "About short-term service", "About new freight transportation system" and "About demonstration experiment plan", and gave us your opinions.
The main opinions are from the fourth page onwards, but first, please see the report content from the sixth page onwards.
There is a service menu introduction process plan.
The first theme is "short-term service", so it means "what is short-term", but in 2012 and 2020, 2012 is the opening time of Shizuoka prefecture of New Shin-Tomei Expressway, 2020 is the full time I will. We have set this period as short-term and explained the services provided during this period.
Although the 7th page is the main service, it is written as a direction, but there are various directions to achieve safety and security, consideration for the environment, realization of various lifestyles, and realization of a vibrant society. We are considering various services, and in order to realize the technical development of road manager support, we also have the technical development that we will efficiently carry out road inspection and maintenance.
The image of the service realized on the 8th page means that the main line section, for example, has a surveillance camera to capture events on the Expressway in real time and provide information, or when an emergency occurs. , Such as the problem of entrance and exit, providing various information using on-board equipment so that an emergency vehicle can enter the site quickly, or when we do construction, we will automate the regulatory sign, automatically detect falling objects I imagine that it will be collected at.
Page 9 is an image of the tunnel. In addition to the above-mentioned provision of information, in the case of tunnels, we are considering introducing inspection robots, labor-saving, and new lamps with longer life.
The 10th page is an image of the rest facility. Comfortable toilets for everyone to rest comfortably, and idling stop and electric vehicles are expected to become popular from an environmental perspective. I am thinking of developing such things, and I reported such content as a short-term service.
Page 11 is the second new freight transport system. Currently, for example, luggage is transported by truck, rail or ship from Tokyo to Osaka, but you can run in a form that can connect cars here. We proposed a new system such as driving, and reported the content of hearing the opinions of logistics companies and various people. Since page 12 and subsequent pages are the result of your opinions, there were many opinions that the cost, working environment, environment, etc. should be better than the current situation. Then, how to ensure the safety of the vehicle. On the next page, I would like to comment on the location and function of the LogiTerminal that connects and disconnects vehicles. In addition, there were opinions from the perspective of transportation responsibility, time issues, and comparison with the railway as a whole system. It is summarized on page 14 and I will report that it is necessary to consider business feasibility, operational aspects, and system aspects as future research issues.
As for the third point, we will start the demonstration experiment starting on page 15. By using the section before the opening of Shin-Tomei Expressway, two actual purposes, the first is to verify the technical side, the second is to let everyone know such services and to actually understand the purpose of running the car , The service is verified, and the table on page 15 is the menu to experiment with. It means to carry out inspections depending on whether there are many technical problems or less.
The 16th page is a concrete place, and we will develop two sections in the western part of Shizuoka prefecture, an earthwork/bridge section and a continuous tunnel section, reproduce the Expressway space here, and perform an experiment. Page 17 is an outline of the test track. The section called "light section" is the section for bridges and earthworks, and the continuous tunnel section is the section where two tunnels continue. Since it has been completed, it means that we will pave here and prepare. The 18th page is the schedule, and we are preparing now, and hopefully we can start the experiment from the second half of next year. The 19th page is a summary of the experiment menu and how to proceed in the future, but since we have limited wisdom alone, we would like to have participation from a wide range of people to proceed.
Page 4 is a summary of the main opinions reported on these contents. Overall, it has been evaluated as an ambitious initiative. Regarding various services for each, for example, there were opinions about legal maintenance and safety, such as concrete maintenance plans and road maps for realization of platooning / connection driving, to be realized.
Dedicated lanes need to be considered when an accident occurs, or the direction of the entire system will not spread all at once, so we are thinking about how to use it in the middle of the process, So, if you think that these efforts can contribute to the area, there are many menus as other things, so you should prioritize and tackle it, or in the end it is all in 2020, so after that We have received the opinion that we need to think again about our dreams in Shin-Tomei Expressway, and we would like to continue to study these.
that's all.

 

(Chairman)

If you have any further questions, I'll leave him alone so I'll ask you a question later.

Next, I will explain the start of ETC lane speed control measures in some detail. As I explained last month at this place, we will finally start speed control measures on the ETC lane starting on the 25th. I would like to proceed according to the schedule in the document.
I thought that I should explain the purpose to as many people as possible, so I prepared a pamphlet. After that, we asked for an actual inspection and handed out a document of a plan that would have been the experience ride. As I have already announced, I would be grateful if you could take a look at the site to see how this is being done.

Next topic is the opening and renewal of the new SA/PA store, which will be announced today. The title says that SA/PA will change more conveniently and more fun this winter. We plan to open 6 locations in December, and as shown in the attachment, Daily Yamazaki of Azusagawa SA and Ishikawa PA are R burgers. This R Burger will be the first store on the Expressway. Next, we will set up a mini-stop at Starbucks, Byobuseyama PA, and a powder room at Nagara River SA at Dangosaka SA. Yoro SA will set up a "Hida/Mino Corner", a specialty product area in Gifu Prefecture. Nagara River and Yoro will be renewed, and others will be newly opened. Please see the attached materials.

Next is the SA New Year's Gift Campaign, which will be announced today. It is a campaign to present the topical digital home appliances by lottery among customers who have purchased over 2,000 yen in total at SA/PA for 25 days from December 19 to January 19. The contents are written on the back of the material, but it is a lottery to give 250 people a "bath bra beer" etc. as a gift.

Next is the date and time of the final screening of the menu contest. Last month, I introduced you here, but on December 19th, from 10:00 to 13:00, at the Hattori Nutrition College in Yoyogi, we invited all of us, including Dr. Hattori, to be the judges. to hold. Everyone in the press will be able to see the cooking and screening scenes as well as try out the contest menu, so if you are interested, please apply and see the actual scene.

Next, about the development of illumination in the service area, this was also released on November 10. I will start illuminations on the 27th, but I would like to see the lighting ceremony held at Lake Hamana, so please see it. There will be a total of 4 locations.

Next is the 8th item to be announced today. This is the first step in expanding overseas business, but we will open a Vietnam office in Hanoi as our first overseas base. The opening ceremony will be held on December 8th. In November of last year, Vietnam Road Corporation, which is called VEC, has signed a memorandum of understanding and has been promoting relations such as information exchange and human exchange based on it. As part of that, we are finally dispatching expatriates to Vietnam. In July of this year, we dispatched employees to Hanoi for road management training for VEC staff. By opening the office this time, we believe that mutual relationships will be further strengthened. The materials attached for reference are the photo taken when the memorandum was exchanged and the photo taken during the staff training.

Next, we will release a bus tour travel product that allows you to tour Kisei Road before opening. This is another announcement today. So far, we have been doing a day trip bus tour where you can visit the road under construction with other sightseeing spots, but this is the third project. Our aim is to deepen our understanding of the Expressway business, but we also planned a day trip bus tour by walking along the Kumano Kodo and combining Ise Jingu's first visit. JTB Chubu is the partner travel agency for the five-day plan on January 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. Reservation sales will start from November 21st tomorrow. The projects so far have been well received, so I hope we can get a good response this time as well.

As for the last topic, it is a Shin-Tomei Expwy tour bus travel product before opening, and this was released at the end of last month. The Kisei Road mentioned earlier is the 3rd, this Shin-Tomei Expressway is the 2nd, and the 1st is the Hida Tunnel. You can see the roads under construction from both Nagoya Station and Yokohama Station, and at the same time we are incorporating various local tours together.

It's been a little longer, but I'm done with this.

 

(Moderator)

Then, thank you if you have any questions.

(Reporter)

Regarding the current state of the business. Toll cuts began in the form of social experiments in the middle of September, but what do you think about the fact that toll declines will not stop the decline in toll traffic?

(Chairman)

There are some cases where the price has dropped and it is going in a good direction, but even though it has become much cheaper, I think the high crude oil prices and high gasoline prices still have an effect. However, the gasoline price has also come down considerably, and in that sense, I think that the number of vehicles passing through will not be further reduced, and that it will be at a standstill. If various measures are taken from now on, they will also have a positive effect on traffic volume. I tried to find out how the results of the emergency economic measures came out, but I knew that the traffic volume in the discount time zone was increasing both on midnight on weekdays and daytime on holidays, so I would like to spend more time investigating thinking about. Also, as you know, last month there was intensive construction work in Tomei, so that part was down from the previous month. On the other hand, there was traffic detouring to the Chuo Expressway, so the number increased here compared to the previous month. These are special circumstances, but when you look at other areas, the traffic volume increases by several percent to 20%. I can't say for sure because it's still a short period of time, but I think it can be said that the measures have a positive effect on traffic volume. I think that if the price of gasoline falls further, it will have an even better effect. However, as the economy is declining in the long run, when the economy deteriorates, it will affect households and industries in various ways. From the perspective of such a long-term trend, I cannot feel relieved, and I think we should rather look ahead.

(Reporter)

Is there a tendency for cars to shift during the discount period?

(Chairman)

I need a little more analysis, but I think the daytime on Saturdays, Sundays, and other days has a pretty positive effect. Regarding late-night discounts, I think that Large time zone and discount rate has a positive effect. It is an analysis in a very short period of time that we may be sensitive to such measures taken. I would like to continue to observe it in the future.

(Reporter)

Do you have the feeling that the economic measures have uncovered the demand for using the entire road?

(Chairman)

I think it's difficult to say that much. As I said, the economic trends in the future, I think this will have the greatest impact. In a sense, I think that the effect is that the line of descent is being stopped to some extent.

(Reporter)

What is the number of passing cars on weekends and weekdays?

(Chairman)

First of all, let's talk about the total high-speed traffic in October by vehicle type: 107.0% for mini vehicles. 98.8% for medium-sized vehicles, 99.5% for large vehicles, 96.7% for large vehicles, and 96.7% for oversized vehicles, for a total of 99.2%. After all, due to the effects of the emergency economic measures, ordinary cars are returning compared to September. The year-on-year rate for ordinary cars was 95.3% in September, but that was 98.8%, an increase of 3.5%, so I think there was something to look at in that regard. Regarding weekdays and weekends and holidays, the numbers taken by Tokyo Barrier are 104.0% for light vehicles such as weekdays, 98.4% for medium vehicles, 98.2% for medium vehicles, 102.7% for large vehicles, and 107.6% for large vehicles. , Which is 99.5% in total. Large cars are a plus. On the other hand, on holidays, light automobiles etc. account for 114.1% and ordinary cars 100.3%, which is a slight increase, but medium-sized cars 99.0%, large cars 99.3%, and oversized cars 111.2%, for a total of 101.2%. If you look at the Tokyo barrier alone, the traffic volume is increasing on holidays. In terms of all day, 107.2% for light vehicles, 99.0% for medium-sized vehicles, 98.4% for medium-sized vehicles, 102.1% for large-sized vehicles, 108.5% for oversized vehicles, and 100.0% in total. The overall trend hasn't changed much over the past few months. The number of mini cars is increasing, and the number of large cars and oversized cars is also increasing in the Tokyo Barrier, so I think that they are responding to various measures.

(Reporter)

The reason why the use of light automobiles on holidays has risen to 114.1% is that gasoline may have become cheaper, but is the government's measures effective?

(Chairman)

Yes, I think there are two of them.

(Reporter)

I'm sure, but is it all right that the numbers at the Tokyo toll gate are for October and one month?

(Chairman)

Yes, the numbers for October at the Tomei Expressway Tokyo Toll Gate. Although I did not say in the analysis above, when comparing the weather with the previous year, there was almost no difference. In other words, it is difficult to think about the factors of the weather, and I think that it is probably because government measures and the price of gasoline have stabilized.

(Reporter)

Regarding the Kisei Expressway when will you finish the remaining 10km?

(Chairman)

It is 2012. The section from Kisei Ouchiyama to Kii-Nagashima is under construction.

(Reporter)

How do you think your business in Vietnam will contribute to your profits in the future? Which country are you thinking other than Vietnam?

(Chairman)

Vietnam has many meanings. Although it is a small project so far, we have received two consultant orders. However, Vietnam has a grand road construction plan in the future. As we are aware, the current plan is 1,380km, of which the extended length is 70km, the construction length is 210km, the commercial length is 900km, and the survey is 200km. .. It means that there is such a plan in front of you. What is the plan after that? There is a plan to make 2,600km by 2020. The plan itself is magnificent, as there are plans to build an additional 3,100 km after 2020. I don't know if they really go as planned because there are various conditions, but since there are such great possibilities, we would like to enter from the survey and consultant business for the time being, and enter the road business itself. I think. However, in that case, even though we have the technology, we have never done such a business abroad, so I think we will work together as a team with various domestic companies. Vietnam is fascinated by the fact that such future possibilities are visible. Also, before that, there was an agreement that Prime Minister Abe at that time would go to Vietnam to create a Expressway between Japan and Vietnam. This is the attitude of the whole country, and the relationships between the countries are good, so we are working on it as a country with potential for the future. I haven't talked about the other countries yet, but I can't get around even if I open the frontier too much, so I would like to focus on Asia in the future. Focusing on Asia, we will not limit the possibilities and consider the situation of dispatching people and opening offices as necessary, and I would like to see the situation.

(Reporter)

As for Vietnam, are there any examples of similar things being done by Expressway companies in East and West Japan?

(Chairman)

The first case of consulting work was received with Mr. Nishinihon. I think each company has its own plans for overseas business, but we have not decided to work together. However, we think it's okay if you can do it together.

(Reporter)

Is this your first time opening an office overseas?

(Chairman)

Yeah, I think it's my first time.

(Moderator)

If there are no other specific questions, this is the end of the 37th regular press conference.
Thank you for being busy today.

(Chairman)

Thank you very much.